UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA 



THE ADJUSTMENT OF A SCHOOL TO 
INDIVIDUAL AND COM- 
MUNITY NEEDS 



BY 

PHILIP ALBERT BOYER 



A THESIS 

PRESENTED TO THE FACULTY OF THE GRADUATE SCHOOL IN 

PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR 

THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY 



PHILADELPHIA, PA. 
1920 



UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA 



THE ADJUSTMENT OF A SCHOOL TO 
INDIVIDUAL AND COM- 
MUNITY NEEDS 



BY 

PHILIP ALBERT BOYER 



A THESIS 

PRESENTED TO THE FACULTY OF THE GRADUATE SCHOOL IN 

PARTLi-L FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR 

THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY 



PHILADELPHIA, PA. 
1920 



^^^ 

u 



Ob 



PRESS OF 
INTELUGENCER PRINTING CO. 

Lancaster, Pa. 



>-s 



^ INTRODUCTION 

^ This study represents an attempt to apply to the organiza- 

3 tion and management of a school the principles of efficiency 

' underlying scientific management in industry. The school 

C* under consideration, the Stanton- Arthur,* comprises the kinder- 

<§• garten and the eight elementary grades, and constitutes a unit 

school organization in the large pubUc school system of the 
city of Philadelphia, Pa. Consideration of the aims and meth- 
ods of this unit school in the light of the aim of education and 
the efficiency principles reveals the necessity of modifications 
for detailed adjustment to the peculiar conditions surrounding 
the school. 

In Chapters II and III both external and internal conditions, 
which tend in any way to influence or circumscribe the work 
of the school, are analyzed in some detail. Social, economic, 
legal, financial and administrative conditions, having been 
definitely ascertained, are accepted as standard, and, together 
with conditions internal to the particular school and its pupils, 
are taken into account in shaping the aims, organization and 
operations of the school. The external standard conditions are 
further Umited, for the present at least, by conditions internal 
to the school system, such as inadequate plant and equipment, 
the absence of efficiency reward for teachers, and insufficient 
provision for the most complete adjustment of content and 
method to the varying individual needs of pupils. 

Chapter IV comprises a study of the attainments of pupils 
so far as these may be determined by the use of standardized 
educational and psychological tests. Results reflect adverse 
conditions in many ways, and indicate the necessity of final 
adjustment of aims, methods and standardized attainments 
in order to secure a closer approximation to the achievement 
of the aim of education in each pupil. 

In Chapter V both ideal aims and standard conditions are 
brought together in such a way as to suggest specific working 
aims, best adapted under the existing conditions to secure the 



* Formed in 1918 by combining under one supervising principal the Ed- 
■win M. Stanton School and the Chester A. Arthur School. 



4 School Adjustment 

closest possible approximation to the most complete realiza- 
tion of the ideal aim. 

Chapter VI outlines the modifications in present practice 
in the management of the school, possible under the existing 
conditions, and suggested by the application of the principles 
of efficiency. In so far as these adjustments are limited by 
the existing standard conditions, they are not ideal, but rep- 
resent the most efficient adjustment of aims, conditions and 
attainments. 

The final chapter proposes specific improvements in condi- 
tions and indicates the resulting possibility of the more com- 
plete realization of the aims of the school under the newly 
estabhshed standard conditions. 

The basic idea and plan of the present study is the outgrowth 
of a course in the theory of educational administration given 
by Dr. Harlan Updegraff in the graduate school of the Uni- 
versity of Pennsylvania. Through his untiring interest, con- 
structive criticism, sympathetic guidance and stimulation. Dr. 
Updegraff has sustained the author throughout the planning 
and preparation of the work. Acknowledgment is also due 
to the members of the Seminar in Educational Administration 
for their interest and criticism, and to Dr. Oliver P. Cornman, 
Mr. Samuel L Chew and Mr. John Christopher, of the De- 
partment of Superintendence of the Philadelphia Public Schools, 
for constructive criticism of the manuscript. It would be 
ingratitude, indeed, to neglect appreciative mention of my 
wife, Gertrude Stone Boyer, whose ever wilhng helpfulness 
has made this study possible. 

P. A. B. 



CONTENTS 

Introduction 3 

Chapter I — Aims and Their Realization: 

Principles of efficiency in industry 9 

Application of efficiency principles to education 12 

The aim of education 13 

The aim of a public school 13 

Efficiency standards 14 

Interaction of aims and conditions 15 

Working aims 16 

Summary 16 

Chapter II — Standard Conditions : 

Conditions shape school policy 18 

Composition of the population of the school's community 19 

Increase in proportion of negroes to total population 20 

Racial composition of school pupilage 21 

Increasing proportion of negro children 22 

Excess of females in negro population 23 

High proportion of young people in cities 24 

Unstable marital condition 25 

Illiteracy 27 

Shifting population 28 

Congested and unsanitary housing 29 

The lodger evil 29 

Proportion of negroes gainfully employed 29 

Degree of skill of occupations 30 

Employed mothers 31 

Pupils working after school hours 32 

Disregard for health 32 

Disrupted home life 33 

Racial traits 34 

MentaHty of negro and white 35 

The white population 36 

Legal, financial and administrative conditions 37 

Comparative expenditure for schools (Philadelphia among the ten 

largest cities of U. S.) 37 

Increased expenditure for full efficiency 40 

Physical conditions — the school plant 40 

Simrmaary 41 

Chapter III — School Pupilage : 

Sources of pupilage 44 

Grades at which pupils enter the school 45 

5 



6 School Adjustments 

School census 45 

Proportion of children attending Stanton-Arthur School, other pub- 
lic schools and parochial schools 46 

Pupil turn-over 49 

New admissions from the South 50 

Attendance 51 

Enforcement of regular attendance 51 

Effects of absence 53 

Age-grade statistics (city and school, 1917) 54 

Age-grade and age-progress statistics, 1918 57 

Pupils of incomplete record 70 

Mentally subnormal pupils 71 

Promotion rates 73 

Large-group instruction and adjustment to needs 74 

Summary 76 

Chapter IV — Standard Attainments: 

Courtis standard tests in arithmetic — Series B 78 

Monroe standardized reasoning tests in arithmetic 83 

Monroe standardized silent reading tests 85 

Trabue language scale — B 88 

Ayres spelling scale — Group T 89 

Thorndike air service intelligence tests 91 

Summary 93 

Chapter V — The Working Aims of a Unit School: 

1. General Aims of Education: 

(a) Objective aspect 94 

(b) Subjective aspect 94 

2. Distinguishing Characteristics of the School's Community: 

(a) Social 96 

(b) Economic 96 

(c) Intellectual 97 

3. Working Aims of the School to Stress: 

(a) Moral character 99 

(b) Health 99 

(c) Home life 100 

(d) Cooperation with other social agencies 100 

(e) Vocational efficiency 100 

(f) Minimum essentials 101 

Summary 103 

Chapter VI — Achievement op Immediate Objectives Under Pres- 
ent Standard Conditions : 
Limitations of finance, plant, equipment, personnel, organization. . , 104 
Adjustments possible under existing conditions 105 



Contents 7 

Grades 1-6 

1. Opportunity class as a type of adjustment 106 

2. Special ungraded classes for: 

(a) Mental defectives 108 

(b) Mal-adjustments (not to be restored to regular classes) 108 

(c) Exceptional pupils of three types: 

1. Mal-adjusted pupils to be restored to regular classes — 109 

2. Cases of special ability 109 

3. Cases requiring special attention for rapid advancement 109 

(d) Instruction in manual arts: 

Pre- vocational work for those about to leave school 109 

Manual Arts and Home Economics for pupils of Grades 5 

and 6 109 

3. Flexibility of grading: 

(a) Homogeneous grouping Ill 

(b) Varying rates of progress Ill 

(c) Maximum and minimum requirements 112 

(d) Differentiated minima 112 

4. Definite working aims: 

(a) For small groups of pupils 112 

(b) For individuals 113 

5. Selection and emphasis in courses of study 114 

Grades 7 and 8 

6. General course modifications 116 

7. Pre-vocational training 117 

8. Promotion by subject 119 

9. Individual pupil roster 119 

General 

10. Health 119 

11. Moral development 120 

12. Home and community cooperation 1 20 

Summary 121 

Chapter VII — Reorganization on the Basis of Improved Standard 
Conditions: 

1. Financial conditions: 

(a) Expenses of conducting Stanton- Arthur School — 1918 123 

(b) Budget for current expenses — 1921 124 

2. Physical conditions: 

(a) Arthur School: 

Outlays for (1) acquisition of adequate yard space 125 

(2) alterations 125 

(3) additional equipment for special classes 
and first grade classrooms 125 

(b) Stanton School replaced by modern building: 



School Adjustment 

(a) Plan and cost of building 125 

(b) Land 128 

(c) Equipment 128 

3. Curriculum: 

Grades 1-3 — Habit formation: introduction to "tools" of 

learning 129 

Grades 4-6 — Habit formation : learning technique 129 

Grades 7-8 — Educational guidance — constants and variables. . . 130 
Academic, business, practical arts and vocational 

courses 130 

4. Organization: 

Grades 1-3 — Individual room and teacher assignments for each 

class 132 

4-6 — The duplicate school 133 

7-8 — Departmental plan 136 

Pupil, teacher and room assignments 134 

5. Supervision: 

Supervising principal 1 36 

Assistant supervisor 137 

6. Personnel: 

Increase in teaching corps 137 

Academic teachers 137 

Special class teachers 137 

Teachers for special subjects and activities 137 

Increased salaries 138 

Efficiency reward 138 

7. A community school: 

Visiting teacher 1 38 

Evening use (instruction, recreation, social and civic activities) 139 

Vacation school , 139 

■Reciprocal influence of school and community 139 

8. Conclusion 140 



CHAPTER I 

AIMS AND THEIR REALIZATION 
Efficiency Principles 

Scientific management based upon carefully tested principles 
of efficiency has within recent years effected vast improvements 
in the organization and methods of industrial enterprise. The 
appHcation of these principles has discovered and eliminated 
sources of waste in men, money, materials, equipment and 
operation. Immediate satisfaction to all concerned as well as 
increased financial reward has caused rapid spread of the doc- 
trine of efficiency until today every large progressive industrial 
establishment has its department of efficiency to study condi- 
tions, organization, operations, schedules, despatching, to make 
recommendations for improvement and to test their effective- 
ness in operation. 

The doctrine of efficiency in industry has been reduced to a 
code of twelve principles upon which to base rules of practice 
by Harrington Emerson in his book "The Twelve Principles 
of Efficiency."* "Five of these are altruistic and concern 
relations between men — or, in the industrial problem, specific- 
ally between employer and employee. Seven of them concern 
methods or institutions and systems estabhshed in the manu- 
facturing plant or in the operating and distributing company." 
Since these principles form the background of the present study 
they are reproduced here in brief : 

1. Clearly Defined Ideals. Workers at the lower end of the 
line should have a clear concept of the relation of their specific 
tasks to all others, and to the final definitely understood pur- 
pose. "Lacking this full understanding of ideals and their 
significance, workers are often driven to create minor ideals of 
their own which frequently are at variance with the ideals of 
those above them. If all the ideals animating all the organi- 
zation from top to bottom could be lined up so as to pull in the 
same straight line, the resultant would be a very powerful effort; 
but when these ideals pull in diverse directions, the resultant 



* Engineering Magazine Company, 4th edition, 1916. 

9 



10 School Adjustment 

force may be insignificantly positive — may, in fact, be nega- 
tive." 

2. Common Sense. All possible theoretical and practical 
knowledge and experience should be considered. "It is im- 
possible to lay down rules or to give specific directions as to 
how we shall convert prejudice and ignorance from without, 
near common sense from within, into supernal common sense. 
To select an upbuilding constructive organization, carefully to 
determine and adhere to ideals, constantly to survey every 
problem from a lofty instead of a near point of view, to seek 
special knowledge and advice wherever they can be found, to 
maintain from top to bottom a noble discipline, to build on the 
rock of the golden rule, of the fair deal — these are the general 
problems which supernal common sense must immediately 
solve." 

3. Competent Counsel. Best practice depends on so vast a 
range of experience that no one man can be master of it all. 
Hence, in a perfected organization, specialists set forth the 
underlying principles, instruct as to their application and re- 
lentlessly reveal both their observance and neglect. 

4 Discipline. "Under the best management there are 
scarcely any rules and there are fewer punishments. There 
are standard-practice instructions so that every one may know 
what his part in the game is, there is definite responsibility,- 
there are reliable, immediate and adequate records of everything; 
of importance, there are standardized conditions and standard- 
ized operations and there are efficiency rewards. There should 
be a high membership ideal for every plant: no newcomer 
admitted who is not in accord with the standards of conduct 
among men, and with the order of life within the enterprise,, 
and no one cut off except for cause. It is before he is admitted 
that the appUcant should hear of the ideals of the business, 
of its organization and methods. Owners must transmit ideals 
to the workers. It is idle to expect them to rise above the 
'spirit of the place.' Punishment for infraction, and elimi- 
nation for neglect must not depend upon the undisciplined acts 
of discipline of individuals clothed with a little brief authority. 
Common ideals striven for by a disciplined organization, su- 
pernal common sense which forgets the little for the sake of the 
larger achievements, necessarily result in cooperation." 



Aims and Their Realization 11 

5. Fair Deal. "With workers selected as to aptitudes and 
character, skill and disposition, with all conditions standard- 
ized for general welfare and contentment, fair deal is secured 
through sympathy, imagination and justice. Provided for in 
the organization, founded on ideals, on common sense, devel- 
oped by competent advisers, simpHfied by vigorous exclusion 
of the unfit, fair deal should be carried into effect through reli- 
able, immediate and adequate records, standard practice, definite 
instructions, schedules and other efiiciency principles." 

6. Reliable, Immediate, Adequate and Permanent Records. 
Records as to each detail aggregated into records as to the whole. 
Records as to each item today and throughout time. 

7. Despatching. Advanced detailed planning and daily reali- 
zation : orderly progress of work. 

8. Standards and Schedules. The kind, quality and amount 
of work to be done should be clearly defined and fully under- 
stood by each individual. Rational work standards require 
motion and time studies of all operations together with the skill 
of the planning manager, the physician and the psychologist. 
Greater and greater results will follow constantly diminishing 
effort. 

9. Standardized Conditions. The individual must be stand- 
ardized to suit the environment or the environment to suit 
the individual in order to secure maximum result with minimum 
expenditure of time, effort and cost. Conditions should be 
accurately ascertained and taken into account in determining^ 
operations, schedules and despatching. 

10. Standardized Operations. Such methods of operation- 
should be determined as will enable each group of workers 
to accomplish the standard attainments under the standard 
conditions with most effective expenditure of time, energy and 
cost. Good results are not achieved by chance; planning must- 
be incorporated as a habit. It is not possible to standardize 
each new operation, but each worker can be so inspired that 
he will not waste time, effort and materials. 

11. Written Standard-Practice Instructions. When advances- 
are definitely recorded and best practice is carefully and sys- 
tematically reduced to writing, progress is conserved. Each 
one of the ten preceding efficiency principles can and should 
be reduced to written permanent standard-practice instruc- 



12 School Adjustment 

tions so that each worker may understand the whole and also 
his own relation to it. Standard practice instructions are the 
permanent laws and practice of a plant. They do not destroy 
initiative. To follow the better and easier way is to lessen 
effort for the same result and to leave more opportunity for 
higher initiative. 

12. Efficiency Reward. Individual reward for individual effi- 
ciency brings the highest development of all human factors in 
an enterprise. Wages should be based on a guaranteed mini- 
mum with progressive efficiency reward beginning at a point 
so low that practically all workers can obtain some of it. Effi- 
ciency standards should be so established as to conserve health 
and happiness. 

The successful operation of the above principles requires a 
type of organization adapted to their application. Authority 
must be clearly defined and responsibility exacted, but the pri- 
mary object of each superior officer should be to facilitate the 
work of his subordinates. ''Line" officers should therefore be 
supplemented by a "staff" of speciahsts who will study each 
working unit and recommend improvements in the line of their 
particular specialty. The perfected organization should show 
a complete parallelism of line and staff so that every member 
of the line can at any time have the benefit of staff knowledge 
and assistance. It is important that the far-reaching signifi- 
cance of the "human element" be fully recognized. Finally 
it is necessary that the whole be coordinated and made to work 
in harmony by the influence of a strong executive officer. 

Application to Education 

It is patent that the products of education are in many ways 
far less tangible than are those of industry. Nevertheless the 
schools of a democracy must justify themselves, and rapid strides 
are being made in the scientific determination of specific edu- 
cational products as well as of most effective plant, equipment, 
organization, courses of study and method. The growing sci- 
ences of biology, sociology and psychology have assisted in the 
development of fundamental educational principles. Reorgani- 
zation of administrative departments distinguishing clearly 
legislative and executive functions has developed more effective 
school organization and control. Reorganization of the schools 



Aims and Their Realization 13 

themselves to conform to stages of pupil-growth, and the pro- 
vision of differentiated courses and special types of instruction 
are evidences of adjustment to individual differences. Bureaus 
of Research and Efficiency in connection with many large school 
systems and universities have already contributed much by 
way of standardization and definitized aims. Many of these 
improvements are the direct result of scientific experimentation 
and efficiency studies, but there is still much to be gained by 
the further application of the doctrine of efficiency to the edu- 
cational process. 

With certain important modifications due to the fact that 
the pupils themselves are the "workers" in the educational 
enterprise, and to the further consideration that teachers rank 
rather as craftsmen or foremen than as operators, the doctrine 
of efficiency in industry here briefly outlined has direct bearing 
upon the organization and administration of schools. 

Educational Aims 

As they relate to the school, clearly defined ideals have their 
foundation in the broader definition of the aim of education. 
However variously defined, this broad aim must include "that 
reconstruction and reorganization of experience which adds to 
the meaning of experience and which increases the ability and 
the desire of the individual to direct the course of subsequent 
experience."* It must comprise both objective and subjective 
aspects — "both adjustment to the elements of environment that 
are of concern in modern life, and the development, organization 
and training of powers, so that the individual may make effi- 
cient and proper use of them."t A comprehensive aim of edu- 
cation must include all phases of life, both individual and social, 
and must contemplate the interaction and interdependency of 
such life with all possible types of environment — physical, 
mental, moral, social and spiritual. In addition, there must be 
included, with regard both to objective and subjective elements, 
the all-important concept of progressive evolution. 

The Aim of a Public School 

The aim of education thus must conform to the larger aims 
of the society in which it functions. As one of the educative 



* Dewey, John. Democracy and Education, p. 62. 
t Ruediger, W. C. Principles of Education, p. 39. 



14 School Adjustment 

institutions of society, the school must conform in its aim, not 
only to the more comprehensive aim of education, but also to 
the aims of other social institutions all of which are in a large 
sense educative. To these ends "It is necessary to the highest 
efficiency of a school that its aim be in accord with the principles 
of biology, psychology, sociology and the other sciences ancillary 
to the science of education, that it be in conformity with the 
aim of the society of which the school is a part, that it properly 
complement and supplement the aims of other institutions, that 
it be both objective and subjective in its reference, that it fur- 
nish criteria for evaluation and selection in the organization and 
operation of the school, that it include as many phases of life 
as conditions permit, that it be definitely formulated, that it 
be thoroughly understood and appreciated by every officer and 
teacher, that the part played by each activity of the school 
in its realization be clearly understood by those who participate 
in it, and that the subordinate aims of these various activities 
harmonize with each other and taken together make complete 
the aim as a whole."* 

Accordingly, it is the aim of a public school, in so far as 
conditions permit, progressively to develop in each individual, 
the knowledge, habits and attitudes that should be possessed 
in common by all members of society, and in addition, to foster 
the development of special types of interests and skills in each 
individual. 

Efficiency Standards 

In the interests of efficiency, it is necessary, therefore, to 
study both the individual child, his instincts, capacities, abili- 
ties and interests, the probable length of his schooling, and 
also to study the conditions of his particular environment in 
order that effective interaction may be secured. In this pro- 
cess, all the principles of efficiency set forth above have imme- 
diate and continued appHcation. Both aims and operations 
must be firmly founded on common sense, competent counsel, 
disciphne and fair deal, and secured with the aid of scientifically 
determined standards, schedules, conditions, and operations. 
These, with written standard practice instructions and efficiency 
reward must be bound together by an upbuilding constructive 



Updegraff, H. Educational Administration (unpublished). 



Aims and Their Realization 15 

organization that will secure the freest, fullest and promptest 
operation of all the efficiency principles. This organization 
must be as simple as possible, observing both functional and 
departmental lines of cleavage, with authority clearly defined 
and accountability constantly exacted. The primary object 
of each superior officer should be to facifitate in every possible 
way the work of those under his direction. The line officers, 
both principal and teachers, should have the constant assistance 
and advice of a staff of competent experts in the form of special 
supervisors whose recommendations should guide the line 
officer's work. The harmonizing influence of a strong executive 
should insure fullest cooperation on the part of teachers and 
pupils alike, through complete understanding and general ob- 
servation of the first five or altruistic principles, and should 
secure upon this foundation the most effective and constant 
operation of the remaining principles. 

Aims and Conditions 

The close interconnection of all the principles of efiiciency 
relating to the conduct of a school and their complete depend- 
ence upon standard conditions make it indispensable to the 
successful achievement of the aim that such conditions be 
definitely ascertained and consciously taken into account in 
the determination of working aims and the methods of securing 
immediate objectives. In a large system of public schools 
there are many standard conditions common to all individual 
school organizations. Political, legal and financial conditions 
are uniform throughout the city and tend to affect the work of 
each school in like manner. Conditions as to plant will 
vary with the period of construction of the building and the 
rapidity of growth of a given locality, but there is always pres- 
ent at least an approach toward a common level. Personnel, 
supplies and equipment tend to general uniformity. But, be- 
cause of the tendency of people in a cosmopolitan city to segre- 
gate themselves into relatively small communities preserving 
uniform characteristics as to nationafity, race and economic 
status, it is plain that the general social conditions presented 
to the different schools of a large system will be extremely variant. 



16 School Adjustment 

Working Aims 

Having established the aim of a pubhc school from the basis 
of its dependence on the general aim of education, it becomes 
necessary to refer each element of the ideal aim of a school 
to the conditions circumscribing its operations. The ideal aim 
will be modified in its contact with the realities of environing 
conditions. Only as these conditions are clearly recognized 
and the consequent modifications of the aim definitely formu- 
lated, can there result a practical working aim which will guide 
the operations of the school in the highest efficiency. It is the 
purpose of this . study to make such a detailed investigation 
into the peculiar standard conditions surrounding a given unit 
school organization as will contribute definitely to the formu- 
lation of a working aim for that school. Such an aim will be 
in strict conformity with the general aim of the school system 
of which the given school organization is an integral part — 
but it will be so only in so far as conditions permit. 

Having determined the working aim of the school as resulting 
from the interaction of the peculiar standard conditions and 
the ideal aim, the principles of efficiency demand that appropri- 
ate adjustments be made in standard attainments, operations, 
schedules, personnel, plant, equipment and organization. The 
close connection of all efiiciency principles makes necessary 
this general readjustment in order that complete harmonious 
functioning can be established with highest efficiency. 

Summary 

Efficiency principles in industry with such amplifications and 
adaptations as are made necessary by the vastly different char- 
acter of the enterprise are directly applicable to the aims, opera- 
tions and organization of the school. 

The aim of education is broader than that of the school, 
including all life experience. The school must take its place 
among other educative institutions and perform its functions 
with due regard to theirs. 

The general principles of aim further require conformity 
with the principles of ancillary sciences, reference to both ob- 
jective and subjective aspects of experience, definite formula- 
tion, thorough understanding and complete harmonization of 
all subordinate aims. 



Aims and Their Realization 17 

The achievement of the ideal aim of a public school depends 
upon the standard conditions surrounding the enterprise. The 
interaction of aims and conditions determines working aims or 
immediate objectives, which in turn make necessary the proper 
adjustment of subordinate aims, standard attainments, opera- 
tions, schedules, plant, equipment, personnel and organization. 



CHAPTER II 

STANDARD CONDITIONS 
Conditions Shape School Policy 

If the school is to free itself from the effects of the ever present 
tendency of all institutions to crystallization, if indeed the 
school is to serve the purpose for which it was created by soci- 
ety, then it must maintain close and constant contact with the 
ever-changing needs of a dynamic social organization. On the 
other hand, in its interrelations with the other institutions of 
society, all of which are in a sense educative, the school must 
hold steadfastly to its particular aim. The functions of other 
institutions must not be assumed by the school because of 
their neglect by those institutions unless these functions can be 
performed by the school more economically and efficiently. 
Even in this case the school should perform Ithese functions 
only so long as necessity and economy demand and should 
transfer them to their proper institutions as soon as expediency 
permits. While conserving the best of the past and filling 
the gaps left by other institutions, the school must progressively 
minister to the needs of present society. 

With such considerations in mind it is plain that the success 
of a school or school system can be judged only in the fight 
of the environment within which it works, and it is essential 
that social, financial, legal, physical and educational condi- 
tions be clearly discerned and fully recognized in the formulation 
of the working aims of a school. These conditions when ac- 
cepted and defined as those upon and within which the school 
must do its work, become the standard conditions of the enter- 
prise. Some are imposed from without and are in large degree 
beyond the control of the school. These are mainly social, 
financial and legal conditions. The school must accept them 
as it finds them and adjust its standard operations, schedules 
and attainments to them. However, in the very process of 
ascertaining and evaluating these circumscribing external con- 
ditions, and of adjusting its work to them, the school as an 
organized agent of society exercises its influence toward im- 
proving conditions and making them as favorable as possible. 

18 



Standard Conditions 19 

Other conditions are created from within and may therefore be 
evaluated and adjusted as efficiency dictates. Such conditions 
are represented by the school plant, equipment, supplies, quali- 
fications of personnel, size of classes, length of term. These 
internal conditions are of course limited by external standard 
conditions. Within such limitations, having chosen the most 
efficient internal conditions, they should be accepted as stand- 
ard. Both external and internal conditions then must be taken 
into account in the conduct of the school, and an adequate 
understanding of these conditions and their effects is a pre- 
requisite to sound judgment on the measure of success with 
which a school is performing its full function. 

The School's Community 

The Stanton-Arthur School serves a community which is an 
integral part of a vastly larger social group comprising the en- 
tire city of Philadelphia. Located in the heart of the city just 
south and west of the business center, this community, if so 
it may be called, is inextricably interwoven with the whole social 
fabric of the city. Isolation of important characteristics there- 
fore is fraught with extreme difficulty, though this is some- 
what mitigated by the fact that the community in question 
manifests characteristics which not only distinguish it from 
the larger community but which present peculiar and markedly 
different social, economic and educational problems. 

Chief among these distinguishing characteristics is the fact 
that the community served by the school in question is one of 
the city's largest centers of negro population. Indeed, while 
the section from which the school draws pupils may properly 
he considered a center of negro population, in a broader sense, 
it is but an expansion of the largest and most congested negro 
settlement in the city. This original negro settlement in the 
7th Ward is the gateway of entrance into the city for most 
negro immigrants. From here, after becoming acquainted with 
the new environment, recent arrivals move out into one of the 
many other centers of negro population in the city. As far 
back as 1870 many of the better negro families, in search of 
more congenial and commodious quarters, took up residence 
in the section just south of the 7th Ward settlement. This 
district, comprising 48 city blocks, bounded by South St., 



20 School Adjustment 

Broad St., Washington Ave. and 22nd St., was for a long time 
the residence section of the elite of Philadelphia's negro popu- 
lation. However, the pressure of colored immigration so in- 
creased the number of negro residents in this section and corre- 
spondingly so decreased the number of white residents, that 
there exists here today not only a larger proportion of negroes 
to white population, but also a larger absolute number of negroes 
than in many small towns of the South. 

Since the section bounded above comprises more than half of 
the political division of the city known as the 30th Ward, the 
statistics for this larger division, extending west to the Schuyl- 
kill River, may profitably be studied in this connection. U. S. 
Bureau of Census statistics for 1910 relating to the State, City 
and Ward are presented in Table I, together with the enroll- 
ment of the school under consideration. 

Table I 
Racial Composition of Population and School Enrollment 

White Negro % Negro 

- Penna., 1910 7,467,713 193,919 2.5 

Phila., 1910 1,463,371 84,459 5.5 

30th Ward, 1910 19,189 9,999 34.0 

Stanton-Arthur School, 1919 318 1,132 78.1 

It will be noted there that colored inhabitants of the State 
of Pennsylvania comprise 2.5% of the total population. In 
the city of Philadelphia this proportion is more than doubled, 
i. e., 5.5%, showing the tendency of negroes from the South to 
locate in urban centers. In the 30th Ward of Philadelphia we 
find an absolute number of negroes totaling 9,999 and repre- 
senting 34% or more than one-third of the population of the 
Ward. The inhabitants of the Ward represent 2% of the 
total population of the city. White residents comprise only 
1.2% of the total city white population, while colored residents 
comprise 12% of the total city colored population. 

Increasing Proportion of Negroes 
The figures presented above represent the number and pro- 
portions of population groups in 1910. Since that time there 
has been a constant influx of colored population from the poorer 
sections of the 7th Ward, from the South and from other cities. 
During the period of industrial prosperity incident to the war, 
many negroes found it possible to improve on the poor living 



Standard Conditions 21 

conditions afforded in the more congested sections. The short- 
age of labor, the lure of high wages and induced immigration 
brought large numbers of laborers from the South and from 
other cities of the North. Hence this section has experienced 
a large increase in the number of negro residents and a corre- 
sponding exodus of whites. It is estimated, accordingly, that 
at present more than half of the population of the 30th Ward 
is colored. When we consider, further, that this colored popu- 
lation is concentrated in the eastern half of the ward, it be- 
comes evident that the school which serves this section has 
not only experienced a large increase in colored pupilage, but 
has been called upon to face many problems of readjustment. 
The present school enrollment is 78.1% colored (see Table I) 
and many of these children are comparatively recent entrants 
to the school. 

The rapid increases and shifting of population groups indi- 
cated above have been due to abnormal economic conditions 
incident to the World War. Some idea of normal tendencies 
may be gathered from a brief study of conditions existing in 
Philadelphia over a period of years prior to 1910. It will be 
seen in Table II that while the white population of Philadelphia 
nearly doubled in the 30-year period from 1880 to 1910, the 
colored population nearly trebled. The rates of increase over 
the population 10 years previous show that increases of white 
population average about 22% and have been growing relatively 
smaller each decade. 

Increases in colored population do not show the same regu- 
larity, varying from 24.2 to 57.8%. This irregularity is partly 
due to faulty census enumerations but far more to economic 
and social conditions. Problems of the extension of negro 
residence areas, labor union difficulties, race riots and the de- 
mand and supply of labor all have marked effect upon the growth 
of negro population. It is plain, however, that negro popula- 
tion is growing much more rapidly than white. Another indi- 
cation of the same tendency is seen in the per cent, of negroes 
in the total population of the city. This has grown from 3.8% 
to 5.5% in 1910 and according to the estimate of the Chief 
Statistician for the city this per cent, is 6.7 for the year 1919.* 



* Cattell, Edward J., Chief Statistician, Phila. 



22 



School Adjustment 



The estimates upon which this rate is based are also given in 
Table II. These would indicate that since 1910 there has 
been an increase of 42,0% in negro population against a corre- 
sponding increase in white population of 14.8%. If we can 
accept these estimates of the number of white and colored 
inhabitants of Philadelphia in 1919, Table II shows that the 
colored population has doubled itself in the 20-year period from 
1880 to 1900 and again from 1900 to 1919. During these same 
periods the white population increased only 50% and Sd}i% 
respectively. 

Table II 

Number and per cent. Increase of White and Negro Population of Philadelphia 

by Decades — per cent. Negro in Total Population 





White 


Negro 




Year 


No. 


%inc. 


No. 


%inc. 


% Negro in 
total pop. 


1880 
1890 
1900 
1910 
est. 1919 


815,362 
1,006,590 
1,229,625 
1,463,371 
1,680,000 


25.0 
23.4 
22.1 
18.0 
14.8 


31,699 
39,371 
62,613 
84,459 
120,000 


43.1 
24.2 

57.8 
34.5 
42.0 


3.8 
3.9 
4.8 
5.5 
6.7 



From such indications, then, we may expect the negro popu- 
lation of Philadelphia to become proportionately as well as 
absolutely larger in future years. It is plain therefore that 
this condition calls for circumspect, foresighted provisions for 
social and economic adjustments, not for the good of the negro, 
but for the safety, well-being, happiness and economic pros- 
perity of every member of the community, white and black. 

School Census 

The school census enumeration of children between the ages 
of six and sixteen years in the city of Philadelphia (Table III) 
shows a fairly regular rate of increase for white pupils, varying 
from 1.7 to 3.2%. For negro pupils, on the other hand, the 
lowest rate of annual increase is but one-tenth lower than the 
highest shown by the whites, and the rate of increase in two of 
the annual periods is as high as 9.5%. 

In the years 1916, 1917 and 1918 negro pupilage increased 
three times as rapidly as did white. In 1919 conditions are 
somewhat abnormal, due to the exodus from the city of many 
people previously engaged in war industry. However, even in 



Standard Conditions 23 

this year, the negroes show a higher percentage of increase over 
the preceding year than do the whites. 

Table III 
Enumeration of Children 6-16 Years of Age* 

% Increase 
White Negro White Negro 

1915 286,560 12,945 

1916 294,001 13,902 2.3 7.4 

1917 289,010 15,228 1.7 9.5 

1918 308,576 16,682 3.2 9.5 

1919 315,117 17,197 2.1 3.1 

* Annual Reports of Bureau of Compulsory Education, Phila., 1915-1919.^ 

Excess of Females in Negro Population 
Analysis of the statistics of the city of Philadelphia for 1910 
shows a marked excess of females in the negro population. 
Table IV shows the totals for population separated by sex, 
nativity and race, together with the number of females to 
each 100 males. 

Table IV 

Sex Distribution'^ 

Population of Phila. 1910 No. of females ta 

Male Female each 100 males 

Total Population 760,463 788,545 104 

Native White 525,933 554,860 106 

Foreign-born White 193,994 188,584 97 

Negro 39,431 45,028 114 

t Statistical Abstract U. S. Census, 1910 — Penna. Supplement, p. 609. 

The same causes which operate to bring to the country a 
larger proportion of foreign-born white males than females, 
operate also to bring to urban communities larger proportions 
of negro females than males. Economic opportunity in the 
coimtry at large is greater for foreign-born white males than it 
is for females. In normal times, economic opportunity in cities 
is larger for negro females than for males. The large employ- 
ment of negro females in domestic service, and the restriction 
of employments open to negroes in general has brought about 
the abnormal excess in the proportion of females to males shown 
above. 

The fact indicated in Table IV, that the proportion of negro 
females to males is 10% in excess of the proportion of white 
females to males, is one of important social significance. Fur- 
ther analysis of the above totals into age groups shows that 



24 



School Adjustment 



this disproportion of the sexes is most acute in those age groups 
where serious problems of sex relationship and immorality are 
likely to arise. It will be seen in Table V that, for ages 15 to 
19, negro females are 53% in excess of males and for ages 20 to 
24 the excess is 52%. In corresponding age groups, native 
white population shows an excess of females of only 6% and 8% 
respectively. 

Table V 
Age and Sex Structure of Native White and Negro Population of Philadelphia, 

1910 





Native White 


Negro 


Age 






No. of Fe- 
males to 






No. of Fe- 
males to 




Male 


Female 


each 100 
Males 


Male 


Female 


each 100 
Males 


Under 5 Years 


72,146 


71,177 


99 


3,391 


3,472 


102 


5- 9 " 


59,449 


59,134 


100 


2,716 


2,907 


107 


10-14 " 


56,403 


56,168 


100 


2,348 


2,857 


122 


15-19 " 


55,217 


58,284 


106 


2,268 


3,475 


153 


20-24 " 


50,579 


54,814 


108 


3,935 


5,989 


152 


25-34 " 


82,263 


88,097 


107 


10,467 


12,000 


115 


35-44 " 


65,944 


70,787 


107 


8,044 


7,686 


96 


45-64 " 


69,683 


76,523 


110 


5,412 


5,442 


100 


65 yrs. and over 


13,497 


19,024 


126 


685 


1,067 


156 


Age unknown 


752 


852 


113 


165 


131 


80 



This condition has direct bearing upon the unhealthy moral 
tone that pervades much of the social relationships of the middle 
and lower classes of negroes. Some tendency toward a more 
even distribution of the sexes can be detected in recent years 
due to the partial removal of restrictions on negro employ- 
ment, especially during the pressure of the war on industry. 
However, this reform has not gone far enough, nor continued 
sufficiently long, nor has it affected the age groups where the 
disproportion is most acute, to obviate the social difficulties 
consequent upon an unnatural distribution of the sexes. 

Excess of Young Negroes in City 

The negro population of the city is further characterized by 
peculiarities in its age structure. The population figures by 
age groups given in Table V are reduced to per cents in Table VI. 
These show a smaller proportion of children among the negroes 
of the city than exists in the native white population. 



Standard Conditions 



25 



In each one of the first four age groups the proportion of 
negroes to total negro population is approximately 4% less 
than corresponding per cents for native white population. 
Nearly half of the native white population (45.5%) is under 
20 years of age while sUghtly over one-fourth of negro popula- 
tion (27.5%) is found under that age. In each of the three 
age groups from 20 to 44 the negro population shows proportions 
markedly in excess of those for whites. Between these ages 
are found 57% of the negro population and 38% of the white. 

Table VI 

Age and Sex Structure of Native White and Negro Population of Philadelphia, 

1910 — in per cents. 



Age 


Native White 


Negro 












Male 


Female 


Male 


Female 


Under 5 Years 


13.7 


12.8 


8.6 


7.7 


5- 9 " 


11.3 


10.7 


6.9 


6.5 


10-14 " 


10.8 


10.1 


6.0 


6.2 


15-19 " 


10.5 


10.5 


5.7 


7.7 


20-24 " 


9.6 


9.9 


10.0 


13.3 


25-34 " 


15.6 


15.9 


26.6 


26.7 


35-44 " 


12.5 


12.8 


20.4 


17.1 


45-64 " 


13.3 


13.8 


13.7 


12.1 


65 yrs. and over 


2.6 


3.4 


1.7 


2.4 


Age unknown 


.1 


.1 


.4 


.3 




100.0 


100.0 


100.0 


100.0 



The small proportion of children is not so much the result of a 
low birth rate in the negro population as the excessive number 
between 20 and 44 years of age is due to the instability of the 
population and the tendency of negroes to migrate to the city 
leaving their famiUes in the South. This group contains also 
the large number of unmarried negroes who have come to the 
city for employment. It is these two groups, both married and 
single, that create many pressing social problems, not the least 
of which is the lodging house evil with its problems of over- 
crowding, unsanitary housing, immorality and crime. Un- 
attached, improvident and without the restraints of home ties, 
the individuals of these over-large middle-age groups do much 
to lower the moral tone of the whole of negro society. 

Unstable Marital Condition 

Probably the greatest inaccuracies in census returns are found 
in the statistics concerning the marital condition of the popu- 



26 School Adjustment 

lation. This is especially true of figures relating to negroes. 
Moreover, gross percentages do not form a satisfactory basis 
for comparison of age, sex or race groups in regard to marital 
condition because of the pecuHarities of age and sex distribution 
indicated above. For example, the U. S. census for 1910 gives 
57.2% as the proportion of Philadelphia negro males married 
against 52.1% for native white males. It will be remembered 
that in Table VI, 57% of the total negro male population of 
Philadelphia was shown to be confined to the age span 20 to 
44 years, while only 37.7% of the white male population is 
found in these years which represent the marrying age. Con- 
sequently it is false to conclude that negro males are married 
in larger proportion than whites. Figures for the U. S. as a 
whole* indicate a higher percentage of married negroes up to 
the age of 25 for females and 30 for males. Beyond these ages 
the native white population shows higher proportions married. 
Also there is shown to be a higher proportion of single negro 
males in the North (39.2%) than in the South (34.8%), a con- 
sequence of the selection effected by migration of single negroes 
to the North. 

A careful, intensive, social study of the negroes of Philadelphia 
made in 1899 by one of their own race develops the following 
pertinent conclusions in regard to the negro population of the 
city: "There is a large proportion of single men; the number 
of married women is small, while the large number of widowed 
and separated indicates widespread and early breaking up of 
family life. The number of single women is probably lessened 
by unfortunate girls and increased somewhat by deserted wives 
who report themselves as single. The causes of desertion are 
partly laxity in morals and partly the difficulty of supporting 
a family. The great number of widows is increased by un- 
acknowledged desertion and separation, and unmarried mothers 
who thus represent themselves. The result of this large num- 
ber of homes without husbands is to increase the burden of 
charity and benevolence and also, on account of poor home 
life, to increase crime. Here is a wide field for social regenera- 
tion." The author further observes: "It must be remem- 
bered that the negro home and stable marriage state is for the 

* The ISlegro Population in U. S., 1790-1915. U. S. Census Bureau 1918. 
pp. 243-6. 



~ Standard Conditions 27 

mass of the colored people of the country and for a large per 
cent of those of Philadelphia, a new social institution. The 
great weakness of the negro family is still lack of respect for 
the marriage bond, inconsiderate entrance into it and a bad 
household economy and family government."* 

Conditions such as Dr. DuBois describes above are all too 
prevalent in the negro population. They cannot fail to be 
reflected in the health, morality and general deportment of 
the children. Indeed, one of the most pressing problems in 
connection with the proper development of the negro race is 
presented here in the tendency of its children to immorahty. 
Innocently they reflect all that is not innocent. Their "fun" 
is ofttimes steeped in depravity. Such conditions, the results 
of the unhealthy moral atmosphere of the street and often of 
the home, while unfortunate in the extreme, can be remedied 
only by a slow process of race regeneration and development. 
"It must be recognized that one of the strongest elements in 
racial development is purity of family life."t In this connec- 
tion the school must consciously extend its influence through 
the pupils to the homes of the community. 

Illiteracy 

Only a rough indication of the educational status of the popu- 
lation can be secured from figures on illiteracy. These show 
that of the total population of Philadelphia 10 years of age and 
over, 4.6% were illiterate. The native white population shows 
only .5%, and negroes are 7.8% illiterate.! While this per 
cent, of illiteracy is high, it shows marked improvement over 
past decades when negro illiteracy in Philadelphia was 18 and 
22%. In the 30th ward the condition with regard to ilhteracy 
is better than in the city as a whole. Of the total ward popu- 
lation over 10 years, 3.5% are illiterate, and among males of 
voting age 3.1% are illiterate. However, it is plain from con- 
tact with these people that the degree of education is not high, 
especially among the negroes. The majority have only a partial 
common school education from inefficient rural schools of the 
South. Many others have continued in city schools only so 



* DuBois. W. E. B. The Philadelphia Negro, pp. 66-72. 

tPage, Thomas N. The Negro: The Southerner's Problem, p. 306. 

J Abstract U. S. Census 1910, pp. 631-649. 



28 School Adjustment 

long as compelled to do so. Consequently, it may be said that 
the educational ideals of the people are not generally so high as 
to furnish incentive, encouragement and guidance from the 
home to children now in school. 

Shifting Population 

Of the total native population in urban districts of Pennsyl- 
vania, 11.7% were born outside the state; while 58.8% of the 
urban negro population of Pennsylvania were not born in the 
state.* This high proportion of immigrant negroes would very 
probably be more than 65% if the figures for Philadelphia alone 
were available. With only one-third of the negro population 
of Philadelphia born here and with the conservative estimate 
of one-fourth of the remainder resident in the city less than 
twenty years, it is evident that approximately one-half of its 
negro population can in no way be considered a product of the 
city. 

The influx of negroes to Philadelphia is not one of famihes 
but is composed largely of young people from twenty to thirty 
years of age who migrate from the rural districts of the South 
to the small towns and finally to the larger urban centers. This 
condition was indicated above in the excessive proportion of 
negroes in age-groups 20-34. Besides this large group there 
are a considerable number of families migrating to the city. 
This was especially noticeable in the great wave of 1917 when 
from 20,000 to 60,000 negroes came to Philadelphia. The 
problems of social and economic adjustment of these immi- 
grants are in many respects similar to those presented by immi- 
grant foreign populations, though complicated to no small 
degree by racial barriers. The negro immigrant, like the for- 
eigner, is likely on his arrival in the city to settle first in the 
congested slum district where housing is poor, tenements are 
unsanitary, and the general social environment is conducive 
to ill-health, immorality and crime. In search for more satis- 
factory hving conditions the better negroes move out to the 
more thinly settled negro sections whenever opportunity is 
afforded. Often, however, only large houses are available and 
lodgers are taken to help support the undertaking. Hence the 



* U. S. Census Abstract 1910, p. 605. 



Standard Conditions 29 

privacy of home life is disrupted and there is denied to the 
family the opportunity for building up those home interests so 
essential to the proper development of the negro. 

Housing Conditions 
A study made by the Philadelphia Housing Association of 
1158 negro homes in the vicinity of the 30th Ward shows that 
95% of the families are tenants and that the negro, generally 
with no steady income, has to suffer the same gross evils of 
insanitation as afSict Italian or Jewish immigrants. Of the 
houses studied, 72% had toilets outside the building and 32% 
had privy vaults; 2% were characterized as filthy and 10% 
as unclean and in general disrepair, responsibility for which 
rested upon the owner. 785 families lived in 4 to 6 rooms,. 
147 in 3 rooms or less and 226 occupied 7- to 11-room houses. 
The excess space in these large houses was in most cases devoted 
to the accommodation of lodgers. Indeed 35% of the families 
studied took lodgers and 17% of all occupants were lodgers.* 
The houses occupied by negroes are likely then to be either 
too small or too large for proper home conditions. Small 
houses are usually located on undrained streets where unsani- 
tary conditions abound; large houses in better repair and in 
more desirable environments can be supported only with the 
assistance of lodgers. Both conditions are opposed to the best 
development of the proper influences of the home and the most 
profitable employment of leisure. 

Occupations 
The percentages of the population 10 years of age and over 
engaged in gainful occupations are given in Table VII. 

Table VII 
Per cent of Population 10 Years of Age and Over Engaged in Gainful Occu- 
pations, 1910] 

Pennsylvania Philadelphia 
Native White Negro Negro 

Male 77.4 86.0 88.9 

Female 18.8 48.7 58.3 

It will be seen here that for both males and females the pro- 
portions gainfully employed are greater for negroes than for 



* Newman, B. J. Housing the City Negro, Phila. Housing Ass'n. 
t U. S. Census, Occupation Statistics, p. 66. 



30 School Adjustment 

whites in Pennsylvania and still greater for the city negroes 
than for the state as a whole. The large proportion of negro 
females employed is an important factor in the home life of the 
race. The great number of young negro women in the popu- 
lation, of course, tends to increase this proportion, but the most 
significant element is contributed by the large number of working 
mothers and wives who find it necessary thus to supplement the 
meager wages of their husbands or to provide complete support 
for their families. 

There is wide divergence in the character of employments of 
white and negro. The white population is engaged chiefly in 
mechanical, industrial, business and commercial pursuits, while 
negroes are in large measure confined to laboring and domestic 
service. Of the 29,561 male negroes of Philadelphia over 10 
years of age, more than half are employed as laborers, servants, 
waiters, teamsters, stevedores, deliverymen and porters. Of 
the 22,535 negro women, 14,279 are servants, 4332 laundresses 
and cleaners, and 1095 dressmakers.* 

In order to verify these generalizations and to afford a clearer 
view of occupational conditions in the immediate sphere of our 
study, an investigation was made into the occupations of the 
parents of 317 pupils of the Stanton School comprising eight 
of the sixteen grammar classes. Care was taken to avoid dupli- 
cation of families and doubtful entries were satisfactorily verified 
or discarded. This condition, combined with the fact that the 
proportion of colored children in the upper grades is smaller 
than in the lower, causes a larger number of white pupils to be 
included in the tabulation than the proportions of the races in 
the school as a whole would warrant. Furthermore, the 186 
colored pupils in these higher grades represent a finer selection 
from among the 1132 total colored enrollment than do the 131 
white pupils of the 318 total whites. 

In the summary table where occupations are grouped by 
classes and changed to per cents it will be noted that of colored 
fathers 67% are in unskilled and relatively insecure and unstable 
occupations; 18% are skilled and less than 10% are engaged in 
business or professions. Of white fathers only 6% are unskilled, 
while 57% are in skilled trades and 36% are in business and the 



U. S. Census, Occupations, 1910. 



Standard Conditions 



31 



professions. Hence practically all white fathers are in skilled 
trades or business while only one-fourth of negro fathers are 
thus engaged. 

The returns for mothers show that 58% of colored mothers 
are at home engaged in housekeeping. This proportion is high, 
even for the selected group with which we are dealing. Many 
colored mothers go out to "day's work" only one, two or three 
days in the w^eek, in which case the work is not reported as a 
regular occupation. More than one-fourth of the mothers work 
out regularly in domestic service and 11% are in skilled work, 
mainly dressmaking. Of white mothers, 90% are engaged at 
home in housekeeping and 3% are in business at home. Less 
than 7% go out to work in skilled trades, domestic service or 
the professions. 

Table VIII 
Summary of Occupation Statistics of Parents of "17 Pupils, Grades !J-8 





Number in Each Occupa- 
tion Class 


Per cent Distribution 


Occupation 
Class 


Fathers 


Mothers 


Fathers 


Mothers 




W. 


C. 


W. 


C. 


W. 


C. 


W. 


C. 


Professional 
Business 
Skilled Labor 
Unskilled Labor 
Domestic Service 
Housekeeping 


1 

42 

67 

7 

1 


3 

13 

29 

108 

8 


1 

4 
5 

2 
111 


1 

20 
5 

48 
103 


1 

35 

57 

6 

1 


2 

8 
18 
67 

5 


1 
3 
4 

2 

90 


11 

4 
27 
58 


Totals 


118 


161 


123 


177 


100 


100 


100 


100 



The total number of parents reported (579) falls short of the 
possible total by 55. These are either deceased or not living 
with the family. Of this number 25 or nearly half are colored 
fathers. This represents nearly one-seventh of the possible 
total of 186 colored fathers and indicates that one out of every 
;seven colored pupils in this highly selected group is fatherless. 
In practically all such cases the mother of the family is forced 
to go out to work, leaving the children at home entirely to their 
own resources or in the care of an aunt or aged grandparent. 
This condition is much more prevalent among the families of 
children in the lower grades and of compulsory school age, for 
it is plain that such circumstances are conducive to early with- 
drawal from school. 



32 School Adjustmevt 

The status of negro employment indicated above only serves 
to emphasize the generalization of Kelly Miller* that ''The 
negro is compelled to loiter around the edges of industry." 
His employment is unskilled, irregular and does not provide 
sufficiently sound economic basis for satisfactory family sup- 
port. The wife and children are forced to eke out the family 
fortunes, and the home life is completely destroyed. The 
negro immigrant to the city is unprepared for the exacting 
requirements of organized society and for the keen competition 
of more efficient workers. There are no facilities for training 
in efficiency, and the prejudice of the white industrial world acts 
as an effective barrier. However there are sufficient examples 
of enterprising negroes who have worked out their own salvation 
to point the way to others who would gain social and economic 
advancement. 

An investigation of the after-school activities of upper grade 
pupils shows that as a rule girls are not engaged in gainful 
occupations though the daughters of working mothers are often 
charged with full care of the household. Fifty-five boys, or 
20% of the total number of cases investigated (276), are regu- 
larly employed after school hours and on Saturdays, chiefly in 
selling papers, in errands and in work in stores. These boys 
work after school from one to as much as four or five hours 
every day and on Saturdays from two to eight hours or more. 
One half of the total number (27 boys) are under 14 years of 
age. If we eliminate the eight, twelve- and thirteen-year-old 
news-boys, the remaining 19 are working illegally. All these 
fifty-five boys are making sacrifices in their school work and 
23% of them are showing distinctly unsatisfactory progress. 

Mortality and Health 

While the distribution of negro population with its excess of 
females and of young people twenty to thirty-five years of age 
tends to keep the death rate lower than would obtain under 
normal circumstances, the mortality rates for negroes are every- 
where higher than for whites. Some reason for this condition 
is to be found in inadequate and unsanitary housing, in the 
sudden change of climate and general living conditions incident 



Race Adjustment, Ch. VI, The City Negro. 



Standard Conditions 33 

to immigration to a northern city, in the lack of proper regard 
for personal hygiene, wisely selected food and clothing, and in 
the superstitious fear of hospitals. Negroes as a whole are woe- 
fully ignorant and disrespectful of laws of health. Vitality 
and efficiency are accordingly lowered, attendance at work and 
at school becomes irregular, and habits of shiftlessness receive 
firmer set. Combine with this the distrust of physicians and 
the behef in 'home remedies', and one important cause of gen- 
eral inefficiency is revealed. 

The school physician reports many minor defects among 
pupils and suggests treatment, but not more than one-fourth 
of such cases are treated, even with the most energetic, untiring 
prodding and assistance on the part of the school nurse. Many 
such uncorrected defects are direct causes of unsuccessful school 
work, as are similar defects in older persons direct causes of 
their inefficiency. Not until the negro has been trained in the 
exercise of proper health habits can we expect to note any great 
increase in efficiency or decrease in death rate. 

Home Life 

The rapid influx of negroes to the city, their congestion in 
more or less definitely limited sections, unsanitary housing, 
low wages, high rents, lodgers, working mothers, and children 
left to care for themselves — all these influences tend to dis- 
rupt the recent and only partially organized family life of the 
negro. In homes of the better class there is a refined and pleas- 
ant family life, children are well cared for and everything possible 
done for their happiness and proper development. Even here 
there is a tendency to let the communal church and society life 
trespass upon the home, and over-indulgence in moving pictures 
is all too common. In famifies broken by the absence of a father, 
by the necessity for the mother to go out to work, by the pres- 
ence of lodgers and by the inadequacy of housing facilities, 
there is no true home life. The members of such families 
mingle in the larger social life of the street with its baneful influ- 
ences. It is folly to expect children under such conditions to 
have the incentive, the repose or the seclusion necessary to ade- 
quate preparation of school work. They live in the streets 
late into the night and some indeed frequently spend the whole 
night there. Morbidly exciting movies combine their potent 



34 . School Adjustment 

influence with that of the street to turn thoughts toward immor- 
ahty and crime. 

It is unfortunate that there is the necessity for mothers to go 
out to work and to keep lodgers, but it is still more unfortunate 
that in many cases this condition tends to persist long after the 
necessity has passed. Many families are in positions to live 
comfortably in a modest way without the economic assistance of 
lodgers or working mothers but they have become habituated 
to the old form of living and do not change when financial 
conditions improve. Thus many children are unnecessarily 
deprived of a true home life and its influences. "The mass of 
the negro people must be taught to guard the home, to make it 
the center of social life and moral guardianship."* 

As has been indicated, the social life of the negro is too much 
outside the home. It lacks organization and definiteness of 
purpose, conditions which can be supplied only by a long, slow^ 
process of growth through social education and group training. 
These should have their inception and be permanently focused 
in the public school and community center. In radiating out 
to the entire community, the influence of the school would form 
closer bonds of common interest between parent and child, 
and progress toward better conditions would then be possible 
not only for the child in school but for the whole community. 

Racial Traits 

Much has been written on the racial traits of the negro and 
much of this writing, even when purporting to be scientific, 
has been deeply tinged with the element of personal bias or has 
been based upon insufficient and inadequate data. In a brief 
treatment of the topic it is difficult to abstain from the trite 
generalizations which at first blush seem so satisfying. The 
negro is represented to have no virtue, truth, honor or integrity. 
He is indolent, extravagant, improvident, imitative, super- 
stitious, emotional, impulsive, inactive, superficial, pleasure- 
loving, appropriative, gregariousf and so on to the exhaustion 
of the adjectival vocabulary. All of these characteristics are 
present in some classes of negroes and many of them are typical 
of certain groups, but it is beside the truth and entirely unjust 

* DuBois, W. E. B. The Philadelphia Negro, pp. 195-6. 

t Odum, Howard W. Social and Mental Traits of the Negro, p. 39. 



Standard Conditions 35 

as well as unscientific to apply such terms generally to the 
whole race. It must be remembered always that human beings 
are human first and races afterward. There is more of human- 
ity than of race in each of us. Sweeping generalizations on a 
basis of race are bound to carry injustice and fan the flames of 
prejudice to such an extent that superior achievements go 
unrecognized and hence ofttimes die for lack of proper encour- 
agement and sanction. Considering the background of negro 
civilization, his treatment during slavery, and the obstacles 
placed in his way after freedom, the progress of the race has 
been remarkable. If it seems to lag, it is because it is compared 
with a white civilization which has been developing gradually 
for many centuries in an environment better suited to its peculiar 
needs. 

Mental Traits 

With all the diversity of the conclusions of such prominent 
students of the subject as Boas, LeBon, Hall, Galton, Thorn- 
dike, Woodworth,! there is substantial agreement on the propo- 
sition that the negro is inferior to the white in the higher mental 
processes. This, however, cannot be attributed to smaller 
average brain weight because of great overlapping and because 
the dominant factor is brain structure rather than weight. 
Knowledge of the structure of the cortical neurons has not pro- 
gressed to the point of affording a basis for sound generaliza- 
tion. In his study of the Psychology of the Negro, after an 
analysis of the work of more than twenty students of psy- 
chology, sociology, anthropology and neurology. Dr. G. O. 
Ferguson, Jr., presents the following conclusions: 

"Instability of character is ascribed to the negro, involving a 
lack of foresight, an improvidence, a lack of persistence, small 
power of serious initiative, a tendency to be content with immedi- 
ate satisfactions, deficient ambition. But the evidence that 
such characteristics constitute a true racial dift'erence cannot 
be called conclusive, and the psychological causes underlying 
them have not been adequately investigated. Along with high 
emotionality and instability of character, defective morality is 
held to be a negro characteristic. This is as subject to debate 
as are the other qualities, though it is apparently supported 
by social statistics. It may be that the total circumstances of 



t See Bibliography, p. 00. 



36 School Adjustment 

his life are such as would lead to immorality even were the 
negro possessed of the psychic nature of the white man. 

"The evidence of experience and observation is often wholly 
unscientific and worthless, but not always so. Strong and chang- 
ing emotions, an improvident character and a tendency to 
immoral conduct are not unallied. They are all rooted in 
uncontrolled impulse. And a factor which may tend to 
produce all three is a deficient development of the more purely 
intellectual capacities. Where the implications of ideas are 
not apprehended, where thought is not lively and fertile, where 
meanings and consequences are not grasped, the need for the 
control of impulse will not be felt. And the demonstrable 
deficiency of the negro in intellectual traits may involve the 
dynamic deficiencies which common opinion claims to exist. 

"The available evidence indicates that in the so-called lower 
traits there is no great difference between the negro and the 
white. In motor capacity there is probably no appreciable 
racial difference. In sense capacity, in perceptive and dis- 
criminative ability, there is likewise a practical equality. It 
is in the central elaborative powers upon which thought more 
directly depends that differences exist, not in the simpler re- 
ceptive and discharging functions. It seems as though the 
white type has attained a level of higher development, based 
upon the common elementary capacities, which the negro has 
not reached to the same degree."* 

There is, however, much weight of authority to the opinion 
that relative racial superiority is but a transient phase of human 
development. "It is hard to say that in any evident feature of 
mind the negro differs characteristically from the white race."t 
In his Social Evolution, Benjamin Kidd asserts that "the 
Negro child shows no inferiority; the deficiencies of after-life 
are due to a dwarfing and benumbing environment."! To such 
authorities capacity is potential and must be stimulated and 
reenforced by social accomplishment before it can show great 
achievement. In view of the lack of convincing proof to the 
contrary, it is with this attitude that a democracy should under- 
take the solution of the many problems presented by racial 
development and contacts. 

The White Population 

In the whole of the above discussion only occasional mention 

has been made of the white population. This apparent neglect 

* G. O. Ferguson, Jr. The Psychology of the Negro, pp. 124-5. 
t Shaler, N. F., and Kidd, B., quoted in Kelly Miller's Race Adjustment, 
p. 36. 



Standard Conditions 37 

has been due not alone to the fact that the white population 
contributes less than one-fourth of the pupilage of the school 
(Table I) but also to the fact that, being composed largely of 
Irish and Jewish stock, the white population is representative 
of average middle-class whites. Special treatment, except in 
certain cases, has therefore been regarded as unnecessary. 

Legal, Financial and Administrative Conditions 

The legal and financial conditions surrounding the school are 
identical with those of the entire school system of the city. 
The Constitution of the State of Pennsylvania makes it incum- 
bent upon the legislature to provide public schools. The legis- 
lature through its enactments has made provision for a Board 
of Education in the city and has given it large powers of initia- 
tive. This Board of Education in its administration of the 
city school system has exercised its initiative in the establish- 
ment of many special forms of education in order that an ap- 
proach may be made in the various sections of the city toward 
the adjustment of the school to the peculiar needs of the com- 
munity. Financial limitations, handed down from the Legis- 
lature in the form of meagre state appropriations and restric- 
tions on school millage and borrowing power, enable the Board 
only partially to meet its obligation in the way of complete 
adjustment to progressively changing needs. The power of 
tradition, the feehng of satisfaction and even of reverence, on 
the part of unthinking members of the community, for the 
schools as they were "in our day," the limitations of antiquated 
school plants and equipment — all tend to obstruct the ways of 
progress toward an immediacy of response to changing social 
needs. The chief limiting condition and the one which tends 
to set standards in the others is financial. Since this condition 
is substantially uniform throughout the city system of which 
the school in question is a unit, it may be advisable to con- 
sider briefly the financial conditions surrounding the entire 
school system. 

Comparative School Costs 

A comparison of expenditures for public schools in the ten 
largest cities of the United States (Table IX) shows that while 
Philadelphia is third in population it ranks next to last, both in per 



38 



School Adjustment 



capita expenditure for school purposes and in the per cent of 
expenditures for schools as compared with amounts spent for 
other municipal departmental service. 

Table IX 

Governmental Cost Payments for Expenses of Schools {Total and per capita),, 

and per cent of Expense of General Departmental Service Devoted to 

Schools in the Ten Largest Cities of the United States, 1918* 











% of Total Dept, 


No. 


Cities 


Total 


Per Capita 


Expense Devoted 
to Schools 


1 


New York 


$42,154,138 


$7.35 


28.6 


2 


Chicago 


15,870,152 


6.23 


28.0 


3 


Philadelphia 


8,328,295 


4.80 


22.2 


4 


St. Louis 


4,657,017 


6.03 


28.6 


5 


Boston 


6,226,167 


8.10 


25.6 


6 


Cleveland 


4,512,966 


6.52 


33.0 


7 


Detroit 


4,568,651 


7.26 


28.3 


8 


Baltimore 


2,417,398 


4.07 


22.0 


9 


Pittsburgh 


4,409,139 


7.52 


29.6 


10 


Los Angeles 


5,945,976 


10.81 


42.7 








Average 


6.87 


28.9 



* Financial Statistics of Cities, 1918, p. 209 et seq. 

The average per capita expenditure for schools in the ten 
largest cities is shown to be $6.87, which is 42.9% higher than, 
the per capita expenditure in Philadelphia ($4.80). The rela- 
tive importance of schools compared with other city depart- 
ments as indicated by proportionate amounts spent for school& 
and for other purposes averages 28.9% in the ten cities as 
against 22.2% in Philadelphia. On both counts, then, of gross 
per capita expenditure for schools, and on proportionate ex- 
penditure for schools as compared with that of other depart- 
ments, Philadelphia should seek additional sources of revenue 
for its public schools. 

Still further indication of the need for Philadelphia to secure 
more adequate school funds is seen in the amounts spent per 
pupil enrolled in the public schools of the ten largest cities. 
In Table X, school costs are separated into maintenance costs 
and outlays. Per pupil costs are based on current expenses 
and do not include outlays for land, buildings and relatively 
permanent equipment. It will be noted that again Phila- 
delphia stands ninth in the hst of ten cities in regard to the cost 
per pupil in its public schools. Philadelphia's annual per pupil 



Standard Conditions 



39 



expenditure of S33.55 falls short $10.01 or 22.9% of the aver- 
age per pupil expenditure in the ten largest cities ($43.56). To 
equal this average, Philadelphia would have to increase its ex- 
penditure for current expenses 29.8%. If this were done the 
yearly investment in public education would still be well below 
that of Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Boston and New York. It 
may be concluded, therefore, that ample justification exists for 
an increase of at least 35% in the annual per pupil expenditure 
for public education in Philadelphia. 

Where peculiar need exists within a particular social group, 
where it is advisable to afford opportunities for school work of 
more varied character, and where it is desirable to provide 
special types of training, it becomes necessary to expend rela- 

Table X 

Showing the Number of Pupils in the Ten Largest Cities in the United States 
and the Total Cost of the Public Schools, 1917-1918* 











Mainten- 


Outlays, 








Population 


Enrollment 


ance cost t 


land,t 


Mainten- 


No. 


Cities 


1910 


of Pupils 


of public 
schools 


buildings, 

etc. 


ance cost 
per pupil 


1 


New York 


4,766,883 


909,445 


$42,459,854 


$2,094,980 


$46.69 


2 


Chicago 


2,185,283 


368,225 


16,910,460 


3,693,916 


45.92 


3 


Philadelphia 


1,549,008 


262,691 


8,814,344 


1,244,587 


33.55 


4 


St. Louis 


687,029 


105,614 


4,732.738 


992,996 


44.81 


5 


Boston 


686,092 


132,848 


6,347,428 


1,058,928 


47.78 


6 


Cleveland 


566,476 


112,319 


5,878,473 


1,425,651 


52.34 


7 


Baltimore 


558,485 


81,631 


2,297,092 


11,491 


28.14 


8 


Pittsburgh 


533,905 


89,830 


4,547,628 


651,441 


50.62 


9 


Detroit 


465,766 


117,812 


4,560,983 


2,056,632 


38.71 


10 


Buffalo 


423,715 


68,631 


3,228,231 


256,865 


47.04 












Average 


43.56 



tively larger sums of money per pupil enrolled. Such inequali- 
ties in cost per pupil already exist within any large school system 
which provides special training for defectives, vocational train- 
ing for a selected group, manual training and household arts 
for certain grades, and it is necessary that such inequalities 
do exist if the work of the schools is to be determined by and 
adjusted to the peculiar needs of variant groups of pupils and of 
variant community conditions. In the particular unit school 
under consideration here, it is desirable that many kinds of 



*Statistics furnished by Bureau of Education, Washington, D. C. 

fTotal Current Expenses. 

JNot included in preceding colmnns. 



40 School Adjustment 

so-called special activity be introduced, that work of a prac- 
tical nature relating to all phases of social and economic life be 
emphasized and that constructive community activity be defi- 
nitely stimulated. It seems entirely proper therefore, to urge 
that the increase in per pupil expenditure in the school in ques- 
tion should be at least 50% over present costs. That this 
claim is not extravagant may be seen in the fact that with such 
an increase, the per pupil cost in this school would still only 
equal that now obtaining in the schools either of Cleveland or 
Pittsburgh. 

It is important to note in connection with recommendations 
for substantial increases in expenditure, that 91% of the re- 
ceipts of school funds in the city of Philadelphia is derived 
from local taxation, and only 6% from State appropriations.* 
Pennsylvania's position among the other states is thirty-seventh 
in respect to the proportion of money contributed to local school 
funds. In the State Government lies a source of additional 
revenue to the local school district that should bear immediate 
assistance. An equalization of assessments on real estate and 
a moderate increase in the rate of taxation for schools would 
also add materially to the local funds. 

Physical Conditions — The Arthur Building 
Turning now to the physical conditions which surround the 
Stanton-Arthur School, we find a plant consisting of two build- 
ings situated some four blocks apart. The Chester A. Arthur 
building erected in 1886 is a three-story structure containing 
twelve regular classrooms, two special classrooms and oner 
kindergarten room accommodating two half-time classes. As 
has been indicated, there are no facilities for play, inside or out- 
side the building. In a recent reorganization of this school, 
negro teachers were assigned to the building, and only negro 
pupils attend the school. 

The Stanton Building 
The Edwin M. Stanton building, erected in 1850, is a three- 
story structure, six rooms on a floor with no provision for halls 
or wardrobes. Rooms are separated by glass partitions, and 
it is necessary for pupils to pass through adjoining classrooms 

*Phila. Bd. of Ed. Report 1918, p. 214. 



Standard Conditions 41 

to reach their own. This building, as will be seen, is entirely 
inadequate to meet the needs of the pupils, much less of the 
community. 

In a large system of schools the necessary uniformity of 
legal, financial and administrative conditions tends to bring 
about a common level of adjustment to general community 
needs to the partial exclusion of the finer, more immediate 
responses to the peculiar requirements of a given locality. The 
prescription of a fixed course of study tends to emphasize uni- 
form educational requirements. Even with increasing latitude 
afforded by way of varying interpretation and stress of em- 
phasis, there is a tendency on the part of teachers and prin- 
cipals to adhere rather closely to prescribed courses often to 
the neglect of desirable adjustments to distinctly local needs 
and conditions. 

Summary 

1. The school as an institution of society must maintain an 
immediacy of response to social needs. 

2. The immediate community served by the Stanton-Arthur 
School contains a large proportion of negroes. 

3. The population of the 30th ward, in which the school is 
located, was 34% negro in 1910 and approximately 50% negro 
in 1919. 

4. Industrial expansion has caused a large recent immigra- 
tion of negroes to the section and an exodus of whites. 

5. The negro population of Philadelphia is increasing at more 
than twice the rate of the white population. 

6. The school census enumeration of children six to sixteen 
years of age shows the number of negro children to be increas- 
ing proportionately three times as rapidly as the number of 
white children. 

7. The notable excess of females in the negro population pre- 
sents difficult social and moral problems. 

8. The negro population is characterized by a large proportion 
of young people (20-44 years) and correspondingly a small 
proportion of children. 

9. The marital condition of the negro population shows a 
large proportion of single men, widows and separated. This 
condition has important moral significance. 



42 School Adjustment 

10. Illiteracy among negroes in the city is not exceptionally 
high but the degree of education is uniformly low. 

11. The negro population is unstable. More than one-half 
of the negroes of Philadelphia are in no way a product of the 
city. 

12. Much of the housing of Philadelphia negroes is unsanitary 
and congested. 

13. The lodger evil is acute, disturbing the privacy and 
morality of the family. 

14. A higher proportion of negroes than whites is gain- 
fully employed. Disrupted home life is indicated by employ- 
ment outside the home of 58.3% of negro females. 

15. Negro employments are, in the main, confined to labor- 
ing, and domestic and personal service. 

16. Of the negro fathers of Stanton school children, 67% are 
unskilled; of white fathers only 7% are unskilled. 

17. Many negro mothers of Stanton school children go out ta 
work, leaving the children to care for themselves. 

18. Of every five boys in Grades 5-8, one is employed after 
school and on Saturdays. 

19. Disregard for the laws of hygiene causes much illness and 
inefficiency. 

20. Social and economic conditions tend to disrupt negra 
family life. 

21. Social fife of the negro is too much outside the home. 

22. Studies of the psychology of the negro point to a some- 
what lower average mentality, less subject to the inhibitions 
of higher mental powers. 

23. The white population of the section under consideration 
is mainly of Irish and Jewish extraction. 

24. Philadelphia ranks ninth among the ten largest cities 
of the United States in: 

(1) Per capita expenditure for schools. 

(2) Proportion spent for schools as compared with other 

municipal departments. 

(3) Per pupil expenditure. 

25. Increase in expenditure necessary: 

(1) To approximate expenditures in other cities. 

(2) To provide efficient training. 

(3) To meet individual and community needs. 



Standard Conditions 43 

26. The school plant consists of two buildings, — the Stanton 
building is entirely inadequate and unsafe; the Arthur build- 
ing provides only the barest necessities for classroom instruc- 
tion. 

27. Uniform legal, financial and administrative conditions, 
while permitting some latitude, tend to obstruct complete 
adjustment to peculiarly local needs. 



CHAPTER III 

SCHOOL PUPILAGE 

The Stanton-Arthur School comprises thirty-four elementary 
divisions or classes and has an average pupilage of 1450. As 
the name indicates, the school is housed in two buildings which 
originally accommodated distinct organizations. Since these 
buildings are located four blocks apart it would appear that 
pupils would be drawn from a larger radius because of the sepa- 
ration. This is not the case, however, because the Arthur 
building has always been a primary school and the Stanton 
has contained only grammar grades. More recently, after the 
combination of the two schools and the great influx of negro 
population to the district it was found advisable to employ 
negro teachers in the Arthur building, which already had a 
pupilage 85% negro. This made necessary the provision of 
primary grades in the Stanton building so that at present there 
are accommodations for negro pupils in grades 1 to 5 in the 
Arthur building and for both races in all elementary grades 
in the Stanton building. 

School Organization 
For the entire school organization the number of classes in 
each grade and the average number belonging and in attend- 
ance during June, 1919, are given in Table XL 

Table XI 
Classification, Average Enrollment and Average Attendance — June, 1919 

Grade No. of Average Enrollment Average Attendance 

Classes Male Female Total Male Female Total 

8 3 46 68 114 37 61 98 

7 4 72 106 178 58 84 142 

6 4 76 97 173 63 79 142 

5 5 90 104 194 70 81 151 

4 3 71 77 148 61 66 127 

3 3 65 76 141 53 64 117 

2 4 86 91 177 68 76 144 

1 4 102 122 224 77 89 166 

Kindergarten 2 25 39 64 15 28 43 

Orthogenic Backward. 1 10 8 18 8 7 15 

Orthogenic Adjustment 1 9 10 19 6 8 14 

Total 34 652 798 1450 516 643 1159* 

* Average attendance for the year exceeds 1200. 

44 



Pupilage 45 

It will be noted here that enrollment and attendance in the 
grammar grades are unnaturally high. This is due to the fact 
that pupils are admitted from neighboring schools into Grades 5 
and 7. Since all the pupils admitted from other schools into 
the 5th Grade are colored and practically all those so admitted 
to the 7th Grade are white, the proportion of colored pupils in 
Grades 5 and 6 is exceptionally high, running as high as 85% 
in Grade 6. The large withdrawal of colored pupils in Grades 6 
and 7 and the admission of new white pupils in Grade 7 cause 
the proportion of colored pupils to be reduced to 55% in the 
upper grades. As was seen in Table I, the proportion of col- 
ored pupils in the entire school organization is 78.1%. Since 
the recent reorganization, colored pupils make up 100% of the 
Arthur School pupilage and 59% of the Stanton. 

Analysis of School Census 

An indication of the extent to which the Stanton-Arthur 
School meets the educational needs of its immediate community 
may be found in a study of the returns of the school census 
made in June, 1919, by the Department of Compulsory Edu- 
cation. The census enumerates all children between the ages of 
6 and 16 years and gives data as to school attendance and em- 
ployment. The enumeration is made by census blocks each 
comprising two city residence blocks. The data for each of 
twenty-four of these census blocks in the immediate vicinity 
of the school were summarized and tabulated in squares corre- 
sponding to the geographical location of the block. It will be 
seen then that Table XII is at once a map of the school district 
and a residence plot of the pupils of the Stanton-Arthur School. 
Besides this it furnishes information as to racial proportions by 
blocks as well as the number of children who attend the public 
schools located either in or out of the district. There is also 
indicated the number of pupils attending parochial and private 
schools, those not enrolled and those employed. 

It will be noted that the vertical and horizontal lines in the 
table represent streets as indicated, and that the tabulation 
within each block represents the status of the children of school 
age resident within the block. The census blocks are num- 
bered for identification with the same numbers used by the 
School Census Bureau. Taking census block No. 67 for ex- 



46 



School Adjustment 



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Pupilage 47 

ample, we may read that in the section from 20th to 22nd Sts. 
and Carpenter St. to Washington Ave. there are 102 children 
between the ages of 6 and 16. Seventy-four of these are col- 
ored. Of the twenty-eight white children, 10 attend the Stan- 
ton School, 2 attend other public schools, 13 go to parochial 
schools, 2 are not enrolled and one is employed. It will be 
noted that more of these white children attend parochial school 
than public, a condition which is also found to exist in blocks 
60, 56, 47, 61, 55, 51, 63, 53, 44. This is a total of ten blocks 
or nearly half of the 23 blocks for which we have data. Look- 
ing to the total for the entire section we find that 226 white 
pupils attend the Stanton School, 367 attend parochial schools. 
Causes for this condition are to be found in the religious per- 
suasion of the white population of Irish parentage; in the prox- 
imity of parochial schools, two of which are located in blocks 56 
and 60 respectively; in the fact that these parochial schools 
serve white pupils only; and in the fact that the Stanton- Arthur 
School has so high a proportion of colored pupils. 

Of the 209 white pupils who attend other public schools 
approximately one-fourth are High School pupils; the others 
go long distances to elementary schools having predominantly 
white pupilage. 

Returning now to block 67 we find that of the total of 74 
colored pupils, 58 attend the Stanton-Arthur and only 9 attend 
other public schools. A larger proportion of colored children 
attends the Stanton- Arthur than other schools in 15 blocks, 
Nos. 67, 60, 56, 49, 47, 40, 66, 61, 55, 50, 46, 41, 65, 62, 54. In 
the remaining blocks to the lower right of the plot there is a 
primary school located in block 44 and a complete elementary 
school one square north of block 43. Both of these schools 
are for colored children only. In the grand totals we find that 
even with the presence in the section of these two schools for 
colored pupils the ratio of children in other public schools to 
children in the Stanton-Arthur School is lower for colored 
pupils (552 to 799 or 69%) than for white pupils (209 to 226 or 
93%). If this calculation were based on the total number of 
pupils attending any school other than the Stanton- Arthur we 
would have the following : 



4:8 School Adjustment 

Table XIII 
Proportionate Enrollment (by Race) in Stanton-Arthur and Other Schools in 

Section Studied 

White Negro Total 

1. Stanton-Arthur School 226 799 1025 

2. All other schools 590 590 1180 

It will be seen therefore that for every 2 white pupils who at- 
tend the Stanton-Arthur School, 5 attend other schools, while, 
with the presence of other colored schools in and near the sec- 
tion, only three-fourths as many negro pupils go to all other 
schools as to the Stanton-Arthur. This situation is still further 
emphasized on comparison of the per cents of total pupilage 
in the section that attend the Stanton-Arthur School. 

Table XIV 
School Census and Stanton-Arthur Enrollment {by Race) 

White Negro 

Total number of children 6-16 in section 900 1511 

Number attending Stan ton- Arthur School 226 799 

Per cent attending Stanton-Arthur School 25 . 1 53 

Table XIV shows that 25.1% of white and 53.1% of colored 
children in the section attend the Stanton-Arthur School. 
Here may be seen an indication that the school, while pur- 
porting to meet the needs of the entire community, is in reality 
largely limited in its service to that portion of the community 
which is colored. Though supported by public taxation for 
the perpetuation of democracy, the school fails to reach a large 
majority of the white pupils of the district. Presumably the 
school is prepared to meet the needs of this portion of the popu- 
lation; practically it is not doing so. In such a situation it 
would seem advisable to effect radical readjustments in order 
that the public school may come into its own. 

This study of twenty-four census blocks in the vicinity of the 
school shows that but 70% of the school's enrollment is drawn 
from its immediate neighborhood. 

Table XV 
Stanton- Arthur Enrollment Residing in Section Studied 

White Negro Total 

Total Stanton-Arthur enrollment 318 1132 1450 

Enrolhnent from 24 blocks 226 799 1025 

Per cent enrollment from 24 blocks 71.0 70. 6 70. 7 

The 92 white pupils who attend the school from without the 
section studied are in large measure pupils of grades 7 and 8 



Pupilage 49 

who live west of 22nd Street and are forced to travel great 
distances to the school on account of the lack of school facilities 
in their neighborhood. Many of these pupils attend the school 
unwillingly because of its distance from their homes as well as 
because of the large proportion of colored pupils. A study of 
the complete residence plot shows that most of the 333 colored 
pupils who come from without this section, reside in the locali- 
ties north and south of the eastern end of the census section 
studied. These sections are served by schools with entirely 
negro pupilage and teaching forces. Some negro parents object 
to this condition, desiring their children to be taught by white 
teachers and to associate with white pupils. Accordingly these 
children each day pass the other schools to attend the Stanton. 
On the other hand there are a few colored pupils who come great 
distances because the schools in their neighborhoods are of 
predominantly white pupilage and these colored children feel 
more comfortable in association with children of their own 
race. It is seen then that white pupils from outside the dis- 
trict attend the school because of inadequate facilities in their 
own section, while colored pupils come great distances to a 
school which more fully meets their needs as they sense them. 

Pupil Turn-Over 

Some idea of the instability of the population of the section 
under consideration was afforded in the study of social condi- 
tions in the previous chapter. This situation is reflected in the 
constantly changing pupilage of the school. In Table XVI 
is presented a summary of admissions and dismissals by months 
for the school year 1918-19. 

Beginning with an original enrollment in September, 1918, of 
1387 pupils, it will be seen from the totals that 749 pupils were 
admitted during the year for the causes noted. During the 
same period 652 pupils were dismissed. The total of admissions 
and dismissals during the year aggregates 1401, a number larger 
than the original pupilage. Changes in enrollment in the first 
and last months of each semester consist largely of promotions, 
transfers and original admissions to school, all of which may 
be considered natural, not affecting in any way the normal 
progress of school work. If we combine all admissions and dis- 
missals for the months of September, January, February and 



50 



School Adjustment 



June, we get 528 admissions and 351 dismissals, a total of 879. 
Subtracting this sum from the aggregate change in enrollment 
(1401) we get 522 admissions and dismissals occurring during 
the term. This sum is 37.6% of the original enrollment of 
1387 and indicates a shifting of pupilage far too extensive to 
permit of effective work. Indeed, if we consider only the ad- 
missions in these middle months of the term, there is a total 
of 221. Approximately one-sixth of the enrollment at any 
given time, then, is made up of pupils who have entered the 
school during the progress of class work. Some of these are 

Table XVI 
Changes in Enrollment — Stanton-Arthur School — Sept., 1918-June, 1919 





Admissions 


Dismissals 








III 


a 








m 




Months 






_o 


o 

03 












of 
Term 


a 
o 










a 
o 




3 

SO 






«| 


m g 


«^ 


f^fe 


o3 


«| 


CQ 02 


^ §3 


"cS 




o 


o3 


1 


JH 


-t^ 


o 


03 


-C 


-tj 




Lh 


t.1 


"^ 


-i^ 


O 


^ 


u 


+j 


o 




£ 


H 


p^ 


O 


H 


Clh 


H 


O 


H 


Sept., 1918 




69 




212 






54 


61 




Oct. 




11 


4 


28 






8 


24 




Nov. 




12 


1 


21 






24 


45 




Dec. 




12 


2 


22 






16 


46 




Jan., 1919 


61 


20 


7 


10 




43 


7 


60 




Feb. 




23 


11 


34 






34 


45 




Mar. 




17 


12 


21 






10 


55 




Apr. 




11 


3 


20 






8 


22 




May 




8 


6 


10 






15 


31 




Jime 


77 


1 




3 




33 




11 




Totals 


138 . 


184 


46 


381 


749 


76 


176 


400 


652 



transferred from other schools, some are readmissions of pupils 
who have previously left the city school system, but more than 
half (122) are new enrollments constituted largely of colored 
children newly arrived from the South. All mid-term admissions 
require individual adjustments in order to make satisfactory 
progress, but the pupil from the South always presents evidences 
of a lack of educational opportunity. He is over age and under 
grade to an extreme and demands very special treatment. It 
is impossible to do him justice in a regular class. 

Of the large number of pupils who left the school during the 
year (652), seventy-six were promoted to other schools, 176 were 
transferred to other Philadelphia schools and 400 entirely severed 



Pupilage 51 

connection with the system. Each one of these 400 cases was 
investigated by the Compulsory Attendance Officer to ascer- 
tain the cause of leaving school. It will be noted in Table XVII 
where these cases are distributed by causes that 204, or more 
than half the dismissals were caused by removal from the city, 
and 110, or more than one-third, were pupils not yet 8 years of 
age or who were over 16 years. 

Attendance 

Social conditions, previously described, very naturally lead 
to irregularity in attendance at school. While the attendance 
at the Stanton-Arthur School is only four points below the 
percentage for the city as a whole (86.8%) it is so as the result 
of constant watchfulness and an inordinate amount of effort 
on the part of teachers on the one hand and of compulsory 
attendance officers on the other. In Table XVII are summar- 
ized the results of investigations by attendance officers showing 
that of the 510 cases of lawful absence, 214 were due to illness 
of the child and 72 to illness in the family. There were 513 
cases of illegal absence and it is significant that 62% of these 
cases (317) were due to the indifference of parents. More than 
one-fourth of the cases were caused by truancy. These 138 
cases of truancy by no means represent the total truancy for 
the year. Cases are not reported until there have been six 
unexeused absences and ofttimes even when a child has this 
number, he is not reported. If the absences have been widely 
scattered, if the child returns to school after the report has 
been sent in or if there are many more urgent cases, the report is 
likely to be held over till some future time. Of the 513 cases 
of unlawful absence investigated it will be noted that 174 pre- 
liminary notices or warnings of prosecution were served and that 
55 parents were actually prosecuted because of their indiffer- 
ence or neglect in the matter of the attendance of their children 
at school. These measures are final resorts and are in most 
cases preceded by interviews with the principal of the school, 
the attendance officer and the attendance supervisor. Further 
evidence of indifference may be noted in the high percentage 
of tardiness on the part of children. Much of this late attend- 
ance at school is due entirely to the indifference of parents 
and is often acknowledged by them without the least concern. 



52 



School Adjustment 



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Investi- 
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Pupilage 



53 



Absence and Non-Promotion 

Some indication of the effects of irregular attendance may 

be seen in the relation of absence to non-promotion. The 

investigation covers the period from February 1 to May 31, 

1919, during which time the school was in session 152 times. 

Table XVIII 

Abse7ice of Non-Promoted Pupils 
February 1 to May SI — ISH Sessions 





Sessions Absent 




Grade 
















Total 




0-9 


10-19 


20-29 


30-39 


40-49 


50-59 


60 + 




8 


18 


11 


2 


2 


2 




1 


36 


7 


10 


8 


7 


6 


2 


3 


2 


38 


6 


14 


8 


8 


3 


1 


4 


5 


43 


5 


9 


9 


7 


3 




3 


5 


36 


4 


8 


11 


5 


4 


1 


2 


2 


33 


3 


10 


5 


3 


3 


4 


2 


1 


28 


2 


12 


11 


9 


5 


2 


1 


2 


42 


1 


10 


15 


17 


10 


9 


6 


20 


87 


Total 


91 


78 


58 


36 


21 


21 


38 


343 


Per cent. 


26.5 


22.8 


16.9 


10.5 


6.1 


6.1 


11.1 


100% 



In Table XVIII are presented the frequencies of various de- 
grees of absence for pupils who failed of promotion in June, 
1919. It will be noted that failures are fairly evenly distributed 
through the grades except in Grade I where the number of 
failures is more than twice as many as in any other grade. 
This large number of failures in Grade I is the direct result of 
irregular attendance, 71% of the 87 failures in this grade having 
been absent 20 sessions or more. Of the thirty-eight cases of 
excessive absence (60 sessions or more) twenty, or more than 
half, are contributed by this grade alone. 169 of the total 
343 pupils were absent less than 20 sessions and 174 more than 
20 sessions. Hence over one-half of the pupils who failed of 
promotion had been absent more than 20 of the 152 sessions 
and nearly one-fourth of them were absent 40 sessions or more. 
Absences of 20 sessions or less may be of little consequence to 
the successful pursuance of class work if the pupil concerned 
will diligently apply himself on his return to make up the work 
that was lost. However, where this is neglected, as is most 
often the case, and where large classes make it impossible for 
teachers to give the individual attention necessary for over- 



54 



School Adjustment 



coming difficulties incident to such absence, present instruction 
is deprived of its proper foundation. Very soon pupils find 
themselves beyond their depth, lessons become 'hard,' and, 
with the stimulus of success removed, the entire school activity 
of the pupil becomes an unprofitable, purposeless task which 
culminates in non-promotion. 

Age-Grade Statistics 

Probably the most fruitful study of pupil statistics is that 
which concerns age-grade and progress status. The most re- 
cent tabulation of age-grade statistics for the entire city system 

Table XIX 
Distribution in the Grades by Ages of All Pupils in Actual Attendance October 3, 1917 

















Stanton- Arthur School 




















Above Normal Age 




Grade 


Age in Years on September First 


Total 






Sex 


S.-A. School 














City % 




"5 


6 


7 


8 


9 


10 


11 


12 


13 


14 


15 


16 


17 


18 


Number 


% 




8 
















3 


13 


13 


10 


3 






42 


13 


31.0 


17.9 




7 














5 


23 


20 


10 


6 


1 






65 


17 


26.2 


23.8 




6 












5 


19 


22 


16 


11 


7 


2 






82 


36 


43.9 


39.2 




5 










7 


14 


21 


23 


10 


5 


4 








84 


42 


50.0 


40.2 


Male 


4 








5 


12 


15 


9 


8 


2 


2 


2 








55 


23 


41.8 


36.8 




3 






1 


30 


20 


12 


8 


4 


1 


1 










77 


26 


33.8 


30.6 




2 




1 


24 


15 


7 


2 


1 


1 














51 


11 


21.6 


22.9 




1 

Total 


18 


25 


28 


11 


6 


2 


2 
















92 


21 


22.8 


10.8 




18 


26 


53 


61 


52 


50 


65 


84 


62 


42 


29 


6 






548 


189 


34.5 


27.7 




8 
















3 


10 


25 


14 


4 


2 


1 


59 


21 


35.6 


18.3 




7 














6 


30 


28 


18 


17 


4 


1 


1 


105 


41 


39.0 


24.1 




6 










1 


6 


18 


34 


21 


19 


13 


4 


1 




117 


58 


49.6 


35.8 




5 










9 


22 


16 


21 


17 


11 


3 


1 


1 




101 


54 


53.5 


36.4 




4 








5 


20 


12 


9 


4 


4 


7 










61 


24 


39.3 


32.3 


Female 


3 






5 


17 


26 


13 


8 


2 














71 


23 


32.4 


26.7 




2 






21 


22 


16 


4 


1 


1 














65 


22 


33.8 


19.0 




1 
Total 


11 


44 


28 


3 


3 




1 
















90 


7 


7.8 


9.3 




11 


44 


54 


47 


75 


57 


59 


95 


80 


80 


47 


13 


5 


2 


669 


250 


37.4 


25.1 




Grand 








































Total 






























1217 


439 


36.1 


26.4 



' Normal Age' for each grade is indicated by heavy type. 

is that showing the distribution in the grades of all pupils in 
actual attendance on October 3, 1917. In order to make these 
figures a basis for comparison, the distribution for the Stanton- 
Arthur School on that date, together with the city totals, is 
given in Table XIX. 



Pupilage 



55 



It will be noted that normal age for each grade covers a span of 
two years. The normal age for entering school is six years 
but the compulsory attendance law of the State does not be- 
come operative until a child reaches eight years of age. Hence, 
if the two-year span is considered normal for Grade I, it must 
be continued up through the grades. However, since six-year 
and even five and one-half year-old initial entrants are in the 
great majority, this two-year span conceals a large amount of 
slow progress through the grades. Notwithstanding this fact 
it will be seen that there are in every grade pupils who are 
from one to six years over-age. These over-age pupils con- 
stitute 34.5% of the boys and 37.4% of the girls. Four hundred 

Table XX 
Per Cents of Over-Ageness by Race in School and City 





Grade 


Stanton-Arthur School 


City 


Male 






School 


Totals 






Negro 


White 


Totals 






8 


50.0 


16.7 


31.0 


17.9 




7 


39.3 


16.2 


26.2 


23.8 




6 


53.8 


26.7 


43.9 


39.2 




5 


58.5 


21.1 


50.0 


40.2 




4 


45.0 


33.3 


41.8 


36.8 




3 


44.2 


12.0 


33.8 


30.6 




2 


25.0 


13.3 


21.6 


22.9 




1 

Total 


24.4 


14.3 


22.8 


10.8 




42.0 


19.0 


34.5 


27.7 




8 


45.7 


20.8 


35.6 


18.3 




7 


50.0 


18.9 


39.0 


24.1 


Female 


6 


57.2 


23.1 


49.6 


35.8 




5 


57.5 


28.6 


53.5 


36.4 




4 


46.7 


18.8 


39.3 


32.3 




3 


36.2 


15.4 


32.4 


26.7 




2 


35.7 


22.2 


33.8 


19.0 




1 

Total 


9.1 




7.8 


9.3 




42.7 


19.1 


37.4 


25.1 




Grand 












Total 


42.4 


19.0 


36.1 


26.4 



thirty-nine or 36.1% of the total of 1217 pupils are above nor- 
m.al age. This per cent of over-ageness is seen to be higher 
than that for the entire city, figures for which are given in 
the column to the extreme right of the table. The city system 
shows 26.4% over-ageness; the Stanton-Arthur School shows 
36.1%. If the city progress is taken as a standard attain- 



56 



School Adjustment 



ment, then the school under consideration is faUing short of 
that attainment to a degree that requires explanation. This 
explanation may be found, in part, in what has already been 
indicated of the character and social condition of the pupilage 
of the school. To show the effect of this condition, the figures 
of Table XIX have been redistributed on a basis of race. 

Table XX shows the per cents of over-ageness among negro 
and white pupils, boys and girls separately. With these figures 
are represented the per cents for the city and for the school as 
a whole. 

It will be seen here that the high per cent of over-ageness 
in the Stanton-Arthur School is caused entirely by the negro 
pupils who show 42% over-age for boys and 42.7% for girls as 
against 19% and 19.1% for white pupils. White pupilage is 
well in advance of the city over-ageness while the negro pupils 
show more than twice the amount of over-ageness as is shown 
by the whites. The negro children comprise 72.8% of the 

Table XXI 
Causes of Retardation of Pupils Three Years or More Over-age for Grade 





Causes of Retardation 


Totals 


Grade 


Backward- 


Poor 


Late 


Irregular 










ness 


Health 


Entrance 


Attendance 


Male 


Female 


Total 


8 


1 




2 






3 


3 


7 


2 


1 


1 


3 


1 


6 


7 


6 


7 


5 


11 


4 


9 


18 


27 


5 


10 


2 


6 


7 


9 


16 


25 


4 


6 


3 


7 


1 


6 


11 


17 


3 


2 




6 




6 


2 


8 


2 






4 


1 


3 


2 


5 


1 




1 


3 




3 


1 


4 


Total 


28 


12 


40 


16 


37 


59 


96 



school pupilage (886 of the total 1217) and contribute 85.7% 
of its over-ageness (376 of the total 439) while white children 
who comprise 27.2% of the pupilage contribute only 14.3% 
of the over-ageness. 

Social and environmental conditions cause the negro to figure 
largely in elementary school over-ageness. Many colored pupils 
are admitted each year from the South, where educational 
opportunity has been lacking. Negro parents, in defiance of 
the law, permit or encourage irregular attendance at school. 
Both of these factors contribute to retardation and failure 



Pupilage 57 

and both remain unisolated in the statistics of over-ageness 
as presented above. Some idea of the importance of these 
factors in creating over-ageness may be gathered from Table XXI 
which distributes by causes the ninety-six cases of pupils three 
years or more over-age for grade. 

This table is for both white and negro pupils but since it 
includes only six white pupils the proportions indicated will 
serve for colored pupils alone. The entire 40 cases of late 
entrance are negro children, as are 15 of the 16 cases of irregu- 
lar attendance. These figures indicate that colored pupils not 
only swell the totals of over-ageness but have a monopoly of 
extreme over-ageness. Of the 376 cases of colored pupils over 
age, 90 were three or more years retarded. This constitutes 
23.9% of the total. 

Age-Grade and Progress Statistics 

If the school is to hold itself responsible for the results indi- 
cated in its pupil accounting it must be careful to eliminate 
from such accounting all sources of failure over which it has no 
control. The school as such is not accountable for the late 
entrance of pupils nor for their lack of previous educational 
opportunity. Nor is the school responsible for long-continued 
absence. These factors then should not be permitted to figure 
in the results of an age-grade tabulation. The school, on the 
other hand, does hold itself responsible for the regular advance- 
ment of each pupil one grade each year. This condition then 
should enter into the school's pupil accounting in order that 
its standard operations and schedules may be adjusted from 
time to time to meet the varying conditions which affect the 
successful achievement of the aim. 

In order, therefore, to include the element of progress, and 
to refine the statistics above presented, age progress charts 
were used the following year in the tabulation of age-grade and 
progress data. These figures were tabulated in the four-fold 
classification of male, female, colored and white. However, as 
no vital deduction can be based upon the male-female treat- 
ment it will be abandoned for facility in presentation. 

Table XXII shows the distribution of pupils by age and 
grade on September 1, 1918. It will be noted that both age 
and grade are recorded in half years. Normal age for entering 



58 



School Adjustment 



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Pupilage 



59 



lA grade is five and one-half years because pupils are permitted 
to enter when just past that age. In other sections, the normal 
age span for the half year's work is one year, e. g. from six and 
one-half to seven and one-half years in grade IB. Pupils of 
normal age for grade are indicated by numbers in blocks; white 
pupils in heavy type. Totals in this Table show that in both 
sections of every grade, except in grades 2 A and 4 A, white 
pupils have a higher per cent, of under-ageness than do negro 
pupils. Of the total number of under-age pupils (75) 61.3% 
are white and 38.7% are colored. In normal-age totals, white 
pupils show larger per cents in every grade and in over-age 
totals in every case the negro pupils show higher per cents than 

Table XXIII 

Age-Grade Status of White and Colored Pupils in Per cents 



Grade 


Under Age 


Normal Age 


Over-Age 


Total Nun 
W. 


iber Pupils 




W. 


C. 


W. 


C. 


W. 


C. 


C. 


lA 


.0 


.0 


80.9 


65.4 


19.1 


34.6 


21 


133 


IB 


15.4 


6.2 


69.2 


52.3 


15.4 


41.5 


13 


65 


2A 


.0 


4.8 


50.0 


36.1 


50.0 


59.0 


16 


83 


2B 


7.7 


.0 


53.8 


26.1 


38.5 


73.9 


13 


46 


3A 


9.1 


.0 


63.6 


30.5 


27.3 


69.5 


11 


59 


3B 


.0 


.0 


38.5 


38.1 


61.5 


61.9 


13 


42 


4A 


.0 


1.5 


25.0 


19.1 


75.0 


79.4 


16 


68 


4B 


41.7 


.0 


33.3 


19.4 


25.0 


80.6 


12 


36 


5A 


4.5 


3.9 


40.9 


28.6 


54.5 


67.5 


22 


77 


5B 


20.0 


4.4 


46.7 


13.2 


33.3 


82.3 


15 


68 


6A 


14.2 


4.9 


42.9 


29.5 


42.9 


65.6 


14 


61 


6B 


25.0 


5.2 


20.0 


13.8 


55.0 


81.0 


20 


58 


7A 


22.7 


7.4 


36.4 


29.6 


40.9 


63.0 


44 


54 


7B 


11.5 


3.6 


50.0 


28.4 


38.5 


67.9 


26 


28 


8A 


8.3 


.0 


37.5 


31.6 


54.2 


68.4 


24 


38 


8B 


36.7 


13.6 


40.0 


27.3 


23.3 


59.1 


30 


22 


Totals 


14.8 


3.1 


44.2 


33.7 


41.0 


63.2 


310 


938 



the white. Of the 720 pupils over-age, 82.4% are colored, 
though colored pupils comprise only 75.2% of the entire pupilage. 

The relative status of negro and white pupils in each sec- 
tion regarding age and grade may be ascertained from Table 
XXIII. 

Here it is seen in the per cents of totals that while 14.8% 
of white pupils are under age, only 3.1% of negro attain that 
distinction. White pupils show about the same per cent nor- 
mal as over-age (44.2 and 41.0), while negro pupils show 
twice as much over-ageness as normal (33.7% and 63.2%). 



60 



School Adjustment 



Colored pupils are over-age with 50% greater frequency than 
whites. These generalizations are borne out with only slight 
variations in every grade. 

Table XXIV 
Pupils Under-Age, Normal Age and Over-Age by Half Years 

















COLOEED PtrPILE 


















Years 


lA 


IB 


2A 


2B 


3A 


3B 


4A 


4B 


5A 


5B 


6A 


6B 


7A 


7B 


8A 


8B 


Totals 


% 


Under 


1 


















2 








1 






3 


6 


.6 


Age 


'A 




4 


4 








1 




1 


3 


3 


3 


3 


1 






23 


2.5 


Normal Age 


87 


34 


30 


12 


18 


16 


13 


7 


22 


9 


18 


8 


16 


8 


12 


6 


316 


33.7 




v^ 


21 


13 


16 


11 


13 


2 


15 


1 


15 


8 


6 


3 


10 


4 


4 


5 


147 


15.7 




1 


9 


10 


11 


7 


10 


12 


6 


10 


7 


8 


6 


10 


3 


3 


4 


4 


120 


12.8 




1^ 


8 


2 


10 


3 


7 


2 


11 


2 


9 


9 


8 


9 


9 


2 


7 


3 


101 


10.8 




2 


4 




3 




4 


4 


5 


3 


4 


8 


9 


12 


4 


5 


'2 


1 


68 


7.3 


bC 


2Vo 


1 




4 


5 


1 


1 


6 


1 


10 


6 


6 


7 


2 


3 


4 




57 


6.1 


< 


3 


1 


1 


1 


4 


h 


2 


4 


11 




5 


3 


4 


1 


2 


3 




47 


5.0 




31/^ 


1 




1 


2 




2 


3 




4 


3 


1 


2 


4 




2 




25 


2.6 


> 
O 


4 


1 


1 




1 




1 


1 




2 


4 


1 




1 








13 


1.4 


Wo 






1 


1 


1 




1 


1 


1 


5 














11 


1.2 




5 






2 








2 




















4 


.4 


Total 


































938 


100.1 



















White Pupils 


















Years 


lA 


IB 


2A 


2B 


3A 


3B 


4A 


4B 


5A 


5B 


6A 


6B 


7A 


7B 


8A 


8B 


Totals 


% 


Under 


1 


















1 








2 




2 


3 


8 


2.6 


Age 


¥2 




2 




1 


1 






5 




3 


2 


5 


8 


3 




8 


38 


12.3 


Normal Age 


17 


9 


8 


7 


7 


5 


4 


4 


9 


7 


6 


4 


16 


13 


9 


12 


137 


44.2 




v^ 




1 


3 


2 


1 


2 


4 


1 


5 


2 


2 


2 


9 


3 


4 


2 


43 


13.9 




1 


3 




3 


2 


1 


1 


5 




3 






4 


3 


4 


3 


3 


35 


11.3 




Wo 


1 


1 


1 


1 




4 


2 




1 


1 


1 


1 


2 




2 


2 


20 


6.5 




2 














1 


1 










1 


2 


2 




7 


2.3 


bC 


2Vo 
















1 


2 




1 


2 


3 


1 


1 




11 


3.6 


< 


3 










1 














2 






1 




4 


1.3 


01 


?,Vo 






1 












1 




2 












4 


1.3 


> 

O 


4 




















1 














1 


.3 


W2 

5 












1 








1 














2 


.6 


Total 


































310 


100.0 



Besides being more wide-spread among colored pupils, over- 
ageness is more acute in regard to the years of its extent. In 
Table XXIV have been distributed the data for under, normal 
and over-age by half years for each grade and section. Ex- 
amination of these entries indicates that colored pupils contribute 
practically all of the extreme over-ageness. This is especially 



Pupilage 61 

noticeable in the lower grades where even though a pupil is 
three, four or five years over-age for grade, he is compelled 
to attend school. These extreme cases leave school at the 
earliest opportunity so that in the upper grades their number 
is reduced to a minimum. In spite of this fact the table shows 
225 colored pupils to be two years or more over-age. These 
comprise 24% of all colored pupils. White pupils show twenty- 
nine such cases or 9.3% of total white enrollment. These 
pupils will at best be from 16 to 20 years of age at the com- 
pletion of the elementary school course. It is accordingly a 
safe prediction that the large majority of them will drop out 
before that time. The significance of this over-ageness does 
not lie so much in the fact that these children will leave school 
early, but lies more particularly in the fact that while in school 
the instruction received will not be adapted to their peculiar 
interests, aptitudes and abilities. Presumably the course of 
study was made for that one-third of the pupils who are of 
normal age. But the same course must also serve for the one- 
fourth of the pupils who are two or more years in advance of 
that normal age. These over-age pupils are the 'problems' of 
the classroom — indifferent, blase, impervious to stimulation. 
They have put away 'childish things' and refuse to respond 
with children and as children do. Not only do they make no 
satisfactory progress themselves but they serve very effectively 
to impede the progress of others. Accordingly, if the aim of 
the school is to meet the needs of the individual, it is manifest 
that these over-age pupils must receive different treatment 
and the school that fails to afford opportunity for such different 
treatment is in so far ignoring its educational aim. 

School Progress 

The progress of pupils through the grades is shown by half 
years in Table XXV. 

Since it is the aim of the school to have each child progress 
one section of a grade in each half year, only one half year is 
considered as normal time for completing a semester's work 
and pupils who have failed of promotion at any time during 
their school careers are considered retarded. This method of 
computing retardation is apt to make the figures run start- 
ingly high, but it sets forth clearly the true state of affairs 



62 



School Adjustment 



o 



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o o a 



Pupilage 



63 



regarding each pupil. This is the prime desideratum. Table 

XXV shows that accelerated progress has been made by 65 
pupils, 5.2% of the whole. The numbers are so few as to per- 
mit rather wide variation in per cents of accelerated progress 
in different grades, but totals in this Table and better in Table 

XXVI show that 7.4% of white pupils and 4.5% of colored 
were accelerated. 

Table XXVI 
Grade-Progress Status of White and Colored Pupils in Per cents 



Grade 


Accelerated 


Normal 


Retarded 


Total Number Pupils 




W. 


C. 


W. 


C. 


W. 


C. 


W. 


C. 


lA 






71.4 


75.2 


28.6 


24.8 


21 


133 


IB 






61.5 


26.1 


38.5 


73.8 


13 


65 


2A 






56.2 


60.2 


43.7 


39.8 


16 


83 


2B 


7.7 


2.1 


30.7 


32.6 


61.5 


65.2 


13 


46 


3A 






90.9 


42.4 


9.1 


57.6 


11 


59 


3B 




2.4 


15.4 


14.3 


84.6 


83.3 


13 


42 


4A 




4.4 


18.8 


26.4 


81.2 


69.1 


16 


68 


4B 




2.8 


41.7 


13.9 


58.3 


83.3 


12 


36 


5A 


9.1 


5.2 


31.8 


38.9 


59.1 


55.8 


22 


77 


5B 


13.3 


5.9 


6.6 


11.8 


80.0 


82.3 


15 


68 


6A 




8.2 


57.1 


26.2 


42.9 


65.6 


14 


61 


6B 


10.0 


8.6 


20.0 


5.2 


70.0 


86.2 


20 


58 


7A 


13.6 


1.8 


47.7 


35.2 


38.6 


62.9 


44 


54 


7B 


7.7 


17.8 


7.7 


10.7 


84.6 


71.4 


26 


28 


8A 


16.7 


15.8 


37.5 


21.0 


45.8 


63.1 


24 


38 


8B 


13.3 


27.3 


23.3 


22.7 


63.3 


50.0 


30 


22 


Totals 


7.4 


4.5 


37.1 


35.0 


55.5 


60.5 


310 


938 



Normal progress is shown by 37.1% of white pupils and 
35% of the colored. 55.5% of white pupils and 60.5% of 
colored pupils are retarded. These per cents of progress are 
not so diverse as were those of age, seeming to indicate that 
colored pupils are late entrants but progress only slightly slower 
than the whites. That this conclusion is unsound can be seen 
by inspection of the numbers of colored and white pupils en- 
rolled in each grade. Where retardation is smallest, in Grade 
lA, there are more than six times as many colored pupils as 
white. This large absolute number of colored pupils in Grade 
lA has an important effect upon the total retardation per cent. 
Again, since the majority of colored pupils have been shown 
to be over-age, a slight degree of retardation tends to cause 
them to be eliminated. Note that Grade 8B shows a prepon- 
derance of white pupils. While, in the school as a whole, white 



64 



School Adjustment 



pupils constitute but 24.9% of the total enrollment. Indeed, 
nowhere above the 6th Grade are colored pupils retained in 
proportions approaching that for the school as a whole. Those 
colored pupils who are thus retained are therefore a finer selec- 
tion from the children of their race than are the white pupils. 
Both these conditions — the elimination of the less fit and the 
retention of the select — act to improve the school progress 

Table XXVII 

Pupils Showing Accelerated, Normal and Retarded Progress 

Colored Pupils 



Years 


lA 


IB 


2A 


2B 


3A 


3B 


4A 


4B 


5A 


5B 


6A 


6B 


7A 


7B 


8A 


8B 


Totals 


% 


Acceler- 2 






































ated UA 


















2 










1 




1 


4 


.4 


Progress 1 






























1 




1 


.1 


M 








1 




1 


3 


1 


2 


4 


5 


5 


1 


4 


5 


5 


37 


3.9 


Nor. Prog. 


100 


17 


50 


15 


25 


6 


18 


5 


30 


8 


16 


3 


19 


3 


8 


5 


328 


35.0 


y2 


17 


39 


10 


16 


5 


15 


10 


7 


13 


20 


5 


16 


7 


3 


2 


7 


192 


20.5 


^ 1 


14 


4 


14 


6 


15 


6 


15 


6 


7 


9 


14 


8 


7 


5 


7 


1 


138 


14.7 


g) 1^ 


1 


5 


3 


2 


4 


9 


5 


12 


1 


7 


5 


16 


3 


6 


4 


2 


85 


9.0 


^ 2 


1 




3 


3 


7 


1 


7 


5 


12 


4 


9 


5 


5 




6 




68 


7.2 


£ 2y2 






1 




1 


3 


1 




1 


7 


2 


4 


4 


5 


1 




30 


3.2 


y. 3 








3 


2 


1 


7 




4 


1 


2 




3 




3 




26 


2.8 


1 sy2 














1 






4 


1 


1 


1 


1 




1 


10 


1.1 


1 4 






2 








1 




4 




1 




3 




1 




12 


1.3 


1 4K 


















1 


4 






1 








6 


.6 


^ 5 






















1 












1 


.1 


Total 


































938 


99.9 

















White Pupils 


















Years 


lA 


IB 


2A 


2B 


3A 


3B 


4A 


4B 


5A 


5B 


6A 


6B 


7A 


7B 


8A 


8B 


Totals 


% 


Acceler- 2 






























1 




1 


.3 


ated VA 


























1 






1 


2 


.6 


Progress 1 


























3 








3 


1.0 


K 








1 










2 


2 




2 


2 


2 


3 


3 


17 


5.5 


Nor. Prog. 


15 


8 


9 


4 


10 


2 


3 


5 


7 


1 


8 


4 


21 


2 


9 


7 


115 


37.1 


y^ 


5 


4 


1 


5 




5 


2 


6 


6 


6 




5 


6 


7 




10 


68 


22.0 


g 1 


1 




3 




1 


2 


9 


1 


4 


2 


3 


2 


6 


4 


7 


5 


50 


16.1 


1 1^ 






1 


1 










3 


2 






1 


7 




3 


18 


5.8 


2 2 






1 


2 




3 


2 








1 


2 


3 




3 




17 


5.5 


£ 2^ 




1 




















5 


1 


3 


1 


1 


12 


3.9 


'S 3 






















2 












2 


.6 


1 3^ 








1 












1 








1 






3 


1.0 


1 4 





































.0 


1 43^ 

'^ 5 












1 








1 














2 



.6 
.0 


Total 


































310 


100.0 



Pupilage 65 

rates for colored pupils. In spite of these circumstances, how- 
ever, the per cent of retardation is five points higher for col- 
ored than for white pupils. 

A more thorough examination of the extent of retardation 
among individual pupils (see Table XXVII) shows that in 
the lesser degrees of retardation colored and white pupils main- 
tain the same rates — 44% of both classes of pupils are retarded 
one and one-half years or less. It is in the upper ranges of 
retardation that the entire difference is found. Colored pupils 
show 153 cases, or 16.3% of total colored enrollment, retarded 
two years or more. White pupils show 36 cases, or 11.6%. 
Thus we find that along with extreme over-ageness there is 
extreme retardation, both of which maladjustments encourage 
elimination. 

A somewhat finer analysis of the age and progress statistics 
for Grades 5 to 8 inclusive shows again that colored pupils 
figure largely in the over-age and retarded groups while white 
pupils make a better showing in groups having normal or rapid 
progress at normal age. 

The figures in Table XXVIII show the exact status of each 
grammar grade pupil regarding both age and school progress. 
In every one of the nine divisions of these tables the white 
pupils show better results than do the colored. For purposes 
of comparison the nine divisions have been telescoped into four 
as follows: over-age, slow progress; over-age, late entrance, 
lost time; at or below age, slow progress; at or below age, nor- 
mal or rapid progress. These per cents are shown in Graph I. 

Typical Cases of Retardation 

A more intimate picture of conditions surrounding typical 
colored retardates is afforded by the reports of personal visits 
to their homes. The school is fortunate in having the services 
of a trained colored social worker with a broad social viewpoint 
and a sympathetic, understanding contact with the problems 
of her people. This home and school visitor acts as a social 
secretary to link the interests of home and school. She has 
done much to improve home conditions in order that a satis- 
factory basis for successful school work can be established. 
Her report on visits to the homes of a few of the over-age and 
backward pupils of the sixth grade follows : 



66 



School Adjustment 



Table XXVIII (a) 

Age-Progress Staitis, Grades 5-8 











White Boys 


















Under 
Age 


Normal 
Age 


Over Age 




Yrs. 


— 1 


->^ 




V2 


1 


IH 


2 


2^ 


3 


3J^ 


4 


41^ 


Total 


% 


Accel 13^ 




1 














1 








2 


2.1 


erated — 1 






1 




















1 


1.5 


Progress — ^ 


4 


5 






















9 


9.4 


Normal Prog. 




6 


13 


3 


1 




1 












24 


25.2 


y2 




4 


11 


4 


1 






2 










22 


23.1 


s 1 




1 


7 


5 




3 


1 


2 










19 


20.0 


sb ij^ 






1 


2 


5 
















8 


8.4 


2 2 






1 




1 






1 










3 


3.1 


Oh 2^ 






1 






2 




2 


1 








6 


6.3 


-g 3 
















1 










1 


1.5 


-H 3^ 






























ii 4 






























^ 5 






























Total 


4 


17 


35 


14 


8 


5 


2 


8 


2 








95 




% 


4.2 


17.8 


36.8 


14.7 


8.4 


5.2 


2.1 


8.4 


2.1 










100 











White 


Girls 
















Accel UA 




1 






















1 


1 


erated — 1 








2 


















2 


2 


Progress — J^ 


2 


2 


2 










1 










7 


7 


Normal Prog. 


2 


7 


21 


3 


2 
















35 


35 


s y^ 




2 


9 


2 


3 




1 






1 






18 


18 


£ 1 






6 


4 


1 


2 


1 












14 


14 


^ 1>^ 






3 


1 


2 


2 














8 


8 


£ 2 








1 


3 


1 








1 






6 


6 


-o 21^ 








2 


1 




1 


1 










5 


5 


-§ 3 




















1 






1 


1 


^ 31^ 


















1 




1 


1 


3 


3 


^ 4 






























P^ 4^ 






























Total 


4 


12 


41 


15 


12 


5 


3 


2 


1 


3 


1 


1 


100 




% 


4 


12 


41 


15 


12 


5 


3 


2 


1 


3 


1 


1 




100 



"The few cases which I have just visited are typical of re- 
tarded Negro children. The environmental condition for all is 
ignorance and poverty. In two cases feeble-mindedness is 
marked. Eight of the eleven children here visited are from 
the South, two having Uved here little over one year. 



Pupilage 

Table XXVIII (b) 

Age-Progress Status-Grades 5-8 

Colored Boys 



67 





Under 
Age 


Normal 

Age 


Over Age 




Yrs. 


— 1 


-K2 




Yi 


1 


Wi 


2 


2^ 


3 


3H 


4 


4J^ 


Total 


% 


Accel IM 


1 




1 








1 












3 


1.7 


erated — 1 






























Progress — J^ 


2 




4 


1 


1 




4 












12 


7.1 


Normal Prog. 




5 


17 


3 


3 


1 


2 


1 




1 


2 




35 


20.9 


Progress }/2 




1 


12 


3 


6 


4 


2 


1 


1 








30 


17.9 


Retarded 1 






5 


6 


5 


2 


2 


2 


1 






1 


24 


14.3 


IJ^ 




1 


1 


6 


2 


8 


1 


2 


1 








22 


13.1 


2 












5 


2 


6 


2 








15 


8.9 


2y2 












4 


2 


2 


1 






1 


10 


5.9 


3 












1 


2 


4 










7 


4.1 


W2 


















2 








2 


1.1 


4 




















2 


3 




5 


2.9 


^V2 






















1 




1 


.5 


5 






















1 




1 


.5 


Total 


3 


7 


40 


19 


17 


25 


18 


18 


8 


3 


7 


2 


167 




% 


1.7 4.1 


23.9 


11.3 


10.1 


14.9 


10.7 


17.7 


4.7 


1.7 


4.1 


1.1 




100 



Colored Girls 



Accel- —\y2 














1 












1 


.4 


erated — 1 






1 




















1 


.4 


Progress — J^ 


1 




8 


4 


2 




2 


1 




1 






19 


8.0 


Normal Prog. 


2 


6 


25 


11 


7 


2 


1 


1 


1 


1 






57 


24.0 


Progress y^ 




1 


16 


9 


6 


3 


2 


2 


1 


3 






43 


18.0 


Retarded 1 






8 


9 


2 


7 


3 


3 




2 






34 


14.0 


1^ 






1 


3 


7 


5 


4 


2 










22 


9.1 


2 










4 


9 


7 


4 


1 


1 






26 


11.0 


2^ 












3 


6 


3 


1 


1 






14 


5.8 


3 
















3 


2 




1 




6 


.5 


3M 












2 


1 




3 


1 






7 


3.0 


4 
















1 


1 


2 






4 


1.7 


41^ 




















1 




4 


5 


2.0 


Total 


3 


7 


59 


36 


28 


31 


27 


20 


10 


13 


1 


4 


239 




% 


1.2 


2.9 


24.6 


15.0 


11.7 


12.9 


11.3 


8.3 


4.1 


5.40.4 


1.6 




100 



"I have carried to these homes the school ideals, and have 
advocated a quiet hour around the table with the books before 
bed time, the open windows in the sleeping room, the impor- 
tance of the proper school attitude. In every case I believe 
the visit was appreciated." 



68 



School Adjustment 



100 



90 



80 



70 



60 



50 



40 



30 



20 



10 



Graph I 

Statiis of Pupils regarding Age and Progress {Grades 6 to 8) 

Colored White 

Boys Girls Boys 



Girls 



I 








Key 

Over Age 
Slow Progress 



Over Age 
Late Entrance 
Lost Time 



at or Below Age 
Slow Progress 



at or Below Age 
Normal or Rapid Progress 



4 



Pupilage 69 

1. Girl, age 14 yrs. 11 mos., repeated lA, 2A, 4B, 6A, 6B — 

absent 30 sessions in four months. 

Health good — operation for appendicitis in 1918. 

Father dead, mother works away from home till 7 P. M. 
each day. 

Home — Small four-room house, $14.00 per month, in fair 
condition considering mother's continued absence at work. 
There is an excess of furniture: piano, china closet, pic- 
tures, bric-a-brac, etc. Mother illiterate — from Vir- 
ginia — anxious for daughter to meet the requirements of 
the school. Says girl goes to the movies every night. 
Girl shows no interest in school work — requires voca- 
tional training and guidance. 

School record poor. 

2. Girl, age 17 yrs. 3 mos., repeated IB, 3A, 4A, 4B, 6A, 6B. 
Health poor — congestion of appendix, adenoids and tonsils 

removed, out of school three years — seems lifeless and 

without strength. 
Home — Good physical condition, but untidy and dirty. 
Mother — Illkempt, poor moral influence. 
Girl lacks initiative — works well under direction — needs 

training in simple sewing or other mechanical work. 

3. Boy, age 15 yrs. 1 mo., repeated 4A, 4B, 5B, 6A, 6B. 
Health good. Had typhoid fever about 5 years ago. 

A short time ago a wagon ran over him, striking his head; 
this has left him a little nervous. 

The mother was out at the time of my visit. I had my 
conference with the grandmother. 

There are three other families in this house. The atmos- 
phere of the home is decidedly tame. Home badly kept. 
This family stands well in the community, but it is a 
home where the parental control is weak. They claim 
decided regard and appreciation for the school. 

Boy has not learned to concentrate. Does not study regu- 
larly. When he does settle down to his books he is 
usually interrupted to do some work or to go an errand. 
There is no effort made to systematize his study hour. 

4. Boy, age 15 yrs., repeated lA, 2A, 3B, 4A, 6A. 

Health — This boy was dehcate as a baby. Had paralysis 
when three months old. Did not grow very much. 

Mother works from home nearly every day. The home is 
in decided disorder. One hesitates to go into it. The 
mother appears to be a good woman. She seemed very 
much disturbed about her boy's slow mental and physical 
growth; but she herself is of low grade mentally and 
does not appear to be very strong. 

Boy does no work outside the home, goes to bed at 9:30 
and is up at seven. Mother claims the windows are 
raised entire night in his sleeping room. Boy attempts 
each night to do home study. Mother claims he is not 
able to learn. The home attitude toward the school is 
favorable but weak. 



70 



School Adjustment 



The conditions here described are as the visitor has said, 
"typical of retarded Negro children." Better homes, delight- 
ful in every way and uplifting in their influence, do exist among 
Negroes but they are relatively few. The conditions under 
which the majority of children live, while not so acute as those 
described here, are generally so unsatisfactory as to make it 
seem desirable for the school to find means of bolstering up 
the family life. In order to perform its own proper function 
with success, it is important that the school secure advantageous 
conditions in the home. Where these do not already exist, 
it becomes the duty of the school actively to engage in the 
improvement of such conditions. 

Pupils of Incomplete Record 
Before leaving the study of age and progress it must be noted 
that beside the 1238 pupils in the study there were 109 whose 
records for progress were incomplete and could not be included. 















' 


Fable XXIX 




















Age-Grade Status of Pupils of Incomplete Record 








Grade 










Age 






Total 


3 


in 

"XT 


1 


2 


3 


4 


5 


6 


7 


8 




Years 


B 


G 


B 


G 


B 


G 


B 


G 


B 


G 


B 


G 


B 


G 


B 


G 


B 


G 


"T~ 


7 








































7^ 






1* 




























1 




1 


8 








































sy2 


1 










1 






















1 


1 


2 


9 


1 


2 


1 


1 




1* 






1 






















9J^ 












2 






















3 


6 


9 


10 


1 






3 


2 


1 




























103^ 


1 


2 


1 






1 






1 
















6 


7 


13 


11 




1 


3 


1 


1 




1 




1 


2 




















nVz 


1 






1 










1 


2 














8 


7 


15 


12 










1 




2 






1 




3 
















12^ 






1 








2 




2 




1 


1 










10 


5 


15 


13 








1 






1 




1 


1 




1 


1* 


1 












13J^ 


















1 


2 


2 






1* 






5 


8 


13 


14 










1 


1 








4 








2 












u'A 


















1 


1 


3 


1 










6 


9 


15 


15 


















2 




2 


1 




4 


1 










15K 


















1 




2 




4 






8 


11 


19 


16 




























1* 




1 








161^ 
































1 


1 


3 


4 


17 
























1 








1 








17^ 




































2 


2 


18 








































18^ 
































1 




1 


1 


Total 


































51 


58 


109 



* Starred entries represent white pupils. 



Pupilage 71 

. Table XXIX shows the distribution of these 109 pupils with 
regard to race and age. It will be noted that only five are 
white children. White pupils as a rule have grown up in this 
or neighboring schools and their progress records have been 
kept without difficulty. The 104 colored children are largely 
admissions from the South without record of previous schooling. 
It will be noted in the Table that but one of these 109 pupils 
is under age, 5 are normal and 104 over age, 17 of them, one 
year, and 87 of them, two years up to four or five years. The 
pupils are largely two, three and four years over-age for grade, 
are poorly classified and cannot be expected to progress regu- 
larly or with much profit to themselves in a course planned 
for normal-age pupils. 

Attempts to meet the peculiar needs of such pupils have 
been made through the establishment of an adjustment class 
where the very worst cases of maladjustment have been sepa- 
rated and given individual treatment with a view to adjusting 
them to the Philadelphia course of study and finally classifying 
them effectively. However, conditions have made it impossible 
to organize more than one such class so that none of these 109 
pupils could profit by the special treatment because it was 
monopolized by more acute cases. Thus, these poorly adjusted 
children, to the extent of 8% of the total pupilage of the school, 
were retained in regular classes. The obstruction of an already 
burdensome problem of over-age and retardation is thereby 
greatly increased and both normal and maladjusted pupils 
suffer in consequence. 

Subnormal Pupils 

Another class of pupils not included in any of the above 
-enumerations is the group of mental defectives. Only those 
children who are so abnormal as to be institutional cases can 
find a place in the one so-called orthogenic-backward class 
maintained in the school. The pupils in this class are made the 
subjects of careful examination, and special effort is jmade to 
improve their condition in every way possible. The following 
notes on individual pupils were made by a representative of 
the Department of Psychology, University of Pennsylvania. 
They will serve to indicate the characteristics and possibilities 
of certain mentally defective pupils. 



72 School Adjustment 

1. Age— 14 yrs. I. Q.— 36. 

Diagnosis: L. G. I. (Barr). Failed completely on the 
cylinders and design blocks and her performance with 
the Form Board was only fair. 

Recommended: Institutional care. Shows sex conscious- 
ness. 

Note: Decided Mongohan appearance to this girl. In con- 
duct she is apathetic and dull, and entirely lacks any 
lively interest or enthusiasm for anything. 

2. Age — 11 yrs., 11 mos. I. Q. — 60. 

Diagnosis: H. G. I. (Barr). Failed on the Binet tests 
which do not require any degree of schooling. Perform- 
ance with Form Board good; performance with Design 
Blocks poor. Satisfied with failures. Physically beyond 
age in height and weight. Mentally nearly five years 
retarded. 

Recommended: Reason for eye examination. If naturally 
incUned to cook, should speciahze. If possible, should 
have training to enable her to read recipes. 

3. Age— 10 yrs. 7 mos. I. Q —47. 

Diagnosis: Not higher than L. G. I. Form Board, very 

poor; Cylinders and Design Blocks, a complete failure. 

Educational ability is completely lacking. In contrast 

to these, however, her memory span for digits is high. 

She repeats both series of 6 under the Binet 10-year 

tests. 
Recommended: Industrial training, although mechanical 

ability is so very poor that even this may not be possible. 

Probably institutional care is the only other alternative. 

4. Age — 10 yrs. 4 mos. I. Q. — 58. 

Diagnosis: M. G. I. (Barr). Succeeds well with Form 
Board; practically fails with Cylinders and Design Blocks. 
School subjects are a complete failure. Change in physical 
appearance from one day to the next, unnaturally height- 
ened color at times, and poor result of physical examina- 
tion might suggest tuberculosis. 

Recommended: Thorough physical examination. After 
improvement in health, should be given industrial train- 
ing. No further attempt should be made to teach her 
regular school subjects. 

Here again is a class of pupils who need very special treat- 
ment. Such treatment further emphasizes the necessity of 
careful investigation and study of the exact physical, mental 
and moral status of each individual. Only on a basis of this 
information can a working aim be established and only when 
both status and aim are clearly visioned can there be effective 
educative contact. 



Pupilage 73 

There is in but few cases any question of reestablishing these 
children in regular classes. They have shown that they lack^ 
capacity for growth along academic hues. This does not mean 
that they are totally wanting in capacity for future usefulness 
unless indeed they are forced blindly to the sad doom of un- 
erring failure by being held persistently to tasks which are 
beyond their hmited capacities. We cannot restore lost pro- 
cesses but we can discover what these children are able to do 
with their limited intelligence, and then train them to do those 
things well. 

Thus there have been removed from the regular classes of 
the school a group of eighteen mentally defective children and 
another group of eighteen retarded, over-age, and generally 
maladjusted children. These, as has been shown, are only the 
most acute cases and all of them are Negro pupils. There 
remain in regular classes many other pupils, white and colored, 
who ought properly to be placed in classes similar to one or 
the other of these groups. 

The 109 cases of incomplete record, 104 of whom are colored 
and practically all of whom are notably over-age require per- 
sistent emphasis on minimum essentials and continued, prac- 
tical application. Opportunity for rapid advancement should 
be afforded these pupils in order that they may be restored to 
regular classes and retained in school until something approach- 
ing an optimum amount of educative experience has been 
acquired. So also with a large number of the many pupils who 
have been shown to be extremely retarded and over-age for 
grade. To avoid the necessity of properly classifying these 
pupils is to clog the regular processes of instruction for both 
normal and dull pupils, and to permit the most fundamental 
aspect of the educational aim — meeting the needs of the indi- 
vidual — to be set aside. 

Promotions 

At once a cause and a result of the excessive retardation and 
over-age indicated above is to be found in the promotion rates of 
the school. These show that only three-fourths of the pupils en- 
rolled at the end of the term have completed the work satisfac- 
torily or show ability to take up profitably the work of the next 
higher grade. The promotion rate for the school in June, 



74 School Adjustment 

1918, was 75.7% while that for the city as a whole was 84.1%. 
In 1919 the promotion rate for the school was 74.9%. To be 
sure, in this connection, somewhat of the traditional attitude 
still remains among teachers. Success is measured too much 
in amounts of information rather than in development of nat- 
ural tastes, abilities, interests, and the power to solve the prob- 
lems presented by practical hfe situations. This attitude on 
the part of the teachers is due to rigid interpretation of all 
too static and formal courses of study. Fortunately, recent 
radical changes have enriched and vitalized these courses and 
have done much to place emphasis on the individual child and 
his relation to the affairs of e very-day life. When the new 
spirit has had time to permeate the work of the school it may 
confidently be expected, that both pupils and teachers will 
'live' in school. When school activities are shot through with 
wholesome, practical, purposeful endeavor, there is no doubt 
that more than three-fourths of the pupils will respond. 

Adjustment to Needs 

However, while these theoretical considerations of general 
application have peculiar force in the situation under discus- 
sion, we must not lose sight of the great burden of over-age 
and retardation which clogs the machinery of every classroom. 
Instruction addressed to and activities planned for normal 
children do not appeal to these older and retarded pupils. A 
large proportion of them are colored pupils who are well ad- 
vanced toward physiological maturity. These have acquired 
new interests which do not harmonize with the routine work 
of their younger and unsophisticated school-mates. Many of 
them work after school, an activity which often heightens their 
indifference to apparently impractical and formal school work 
whose relation to life is at best vague. These children are pass- 
ing through one of the most crucial stages in their lives — a 
stage where sympathetic, intelligent, educational guidance is 
of paramount importance. But the sort of instruction and 
training they need is out of place for the normal child of their 
school grade and because it is so these unfortunates lose in- 
terest in school work, become irregular in attendance, unreliable 
in preparation of assignments and generally uncooperative. 
More than ever do they give themselves up to the lure of the 



Pupilage 75 

movie, the street and the corner gang. The estrangement 
becomes complete, and rare patience and ingenuity are required 
of the teacher to avoid open conflict. Finally, when the bar 
is removed, these children leave school for work — potent re- 
minders of the failure of the school to serve. 

In an attempt to meet more adequately this acute situation 
in the school, more minute classification within grades is ef- 
fected wherever practicable. Pupils who show marked ability 
are promoted incidentally during the progress of the term's 
work. However, this element of flexibility is hmited in its 
application to pupils who have evidenced superior achievement 
and who show capacity for advanced work. Considering the 
fact that such promotion entails precipitate introduction into 
the work of a higher grade already in course of progress, it is 
remarkable that pupils thus promoted gain so high a degree 
of success in the new work. This condition makes it necessary 
to limit incidental promotion to the exceptional pupil. During 
the past term only 2% of the pupils in regular classes have 
been advanced in this manner. This proportion could be ma- 
terially increased if it were possible in rapid advancement 
classes to afford instruction in the minimum essentials of the 
half-year's work to be gained. 

Another attempt to effect a closer classification of pupils 
and to permit rates of progress suited to their abihties was 
made by means of a reclassification of parallel divisions of 
certain grades. This was done in the middle of the semester 
on a basis of class standing and physiological age and maturity. 
One class was then permitted to make rapid progress while 
the other reviewed fundamentals, took its educational bear- 
ings and then proceeded at a pace comfortable for most of its 
pupils. At the end of the term pupils of this class were pro- 
moted, regardless of not having completed a full term's work, 
if they showed industry, appHcation and a fair degree of power. 
Many pupils of the advanced class will secure incidental pro- 
motion to the next higher grade because of the advanced work 
they have been able to do. This scheme lends an element of 
flexibility to grading and in so far is good, but it fails at the 
point of greatest need. Backward, extremely over-age and 
retarded pupils need special treatment that can be made to 
continue longer than one semester. They require rooms spec- 
ially equipped for their purpose but most of all they must have 



76 School Adjustment 

teachers with sympathetic, broadly social outlook — teachers who 
can be free to study individual cases and provide appropriate 
training. 

Summary 

1. The Stanton- Arthur School is housed in two buildings of 
16 and 18 divisions respectively. The Stanton building ac- 
commodates white and colored pupils (59% colored) in Grades 1 
to 8. The Arthur building accommodates colored pupils in 
Grades 1-5. 

2. Pupils are admitted by promotion from other schools into 
Grades 5 and 7. Hence the proportion of higher grade pupils 
is greater than would obtain in a normal distribution. 

3. (a) Residence and census tabulation for the school com- 
munity includes 70% of Stanton-Arthur pupilage. 

(b) The section includes two parochial schools for white 
children and a public primary school for colored pupils. 

(c) A larger proportion of colored than of white children 
in the district is enrolled in the Stanton-Arthur School. 

(d) White pupils from outside this section come to the school 
because of the lack of upper grade accommodations in their 
neighborhoods. Colored pupils come to the Stanton-Arthur 
School from great distances to avoid colored teachers or schools 
where their color will tend to make them conspicuous. 

4. Pupil turn-over in the school is excessive because of shift- 
ing of population, immigration and early withdrawal. 

5. Negro pupils from the South cannot be properly classified 
in regular grades. 

6. Average attendance for the school is four points lower 
than that for the city as a whole. In the cases of absence 
investigated, illness, indifferent parents and truancy are the 
chief causes. 

7. One hundred seventy-four formal warnings of prosecution 
and fifty-five actual prosecutions of indifferent parents besides 
many interv ews with the Attendance Supervisor and Prin- 
cipal were necessary to enforce the Compulsory Attendance 
Law. 

8. Continued absence of pupils is one of the chief causes of 
failure in school work. 

9 Over-age pupils in the Stanton-Arthur School constitute 
36.1% of the total as against an average of 26.4% over-age in 
the city as a whole. 



Pupilage 77 

. 10. Over-age for grade is 42% for colored pupils of the school 
and 19% for white pupils. 

11 Extreme over-ageness is confined largely to colored pupils 
and is caused by late entrance and irregular attendance. 

12. In age-grade statistics by half-years, colored pupils show 
lower per cents under age and normal age and higher per cents 
over-age. 

13. Colored pupils over-age are nearly twice the number of 
normal age. Fewer white pupils are over-age than normal. 

14. Of colored pupils 24% are two years or more over-age; 
of white pupils 9.3%. 

15. Pupils showing accelerated progress constitute 7.4% of 
white and 4.5% of colored pupils. 55.5% of white and 60.5% 
of colored pupils are retarded. 

16. The relatively good showing of colored pupils is caused 
largely by the selection of elimination. 

17. The difference of 5% in retardation per cents is confined 
to the upper ranges — over-age two years or more — colored 
pupils 16.3%, white pupils 11.6%. 

18. The environmental conditions surrounding retarded pupils 
are in nearly all cases poor and unstimulating. 

19. One hundred nine pupils not included in the age-progress 
tabulation because of incomplete records show extreme retar- 
dation. 

20. Beside these 109 pupils, the most pronounced cases of 
maladjustment have been placed in a special group for indi- 
vidual instruction. 

21. The most acute cases of sub-normahty and mental de- 
ficiency are segregated in an Orthogenic Backward class. Many 
of these cases should receive institutional care. 

22. At once a cause and result of excessive over-ageness 
and retardation is seen in the school's promotion rates which 
average 75%. 

23. The tendency to rigid administration of a uniform course 
of study with large groups of pupils tends to perpetrate this 
condition. 

24. Reforms are desirable in the way of flexible grading, 
varying time schedules and rates of progress, adaptation of 
work to capacity and physiological maturity. 



CHAPTER IV 

STANDARD ATTAINMENTS 

One measure of the success with which a school is approxi- 
mating the fullest achievement of its educational aim may be 
read in the attainments of its pupils. Relative rather than 
absolute attainment should be the criterion. Without having 
first definitely determined the kind, quality and amount of 
work to be done by each pupil and each homogeneous group of 
pupils, indeed without having first insured at least relative 
homogeneity in the grouping of pupils with regard to particular 
capacities, it is misleading to compare attainments either with 
standards which have been set up, or with central tendencies 
registered by groups working under different conditions. From 
the foregoing study of external and internal standard conditions 
surrounding the Stanton-Arthur school, it is plain that classi- 
fications, operations, schedules, and rate of work are not suffi- 
ciently differentiated to bring about for each individual the 
maximum approximation of achievement to capacity. These 
conditions tend at once to obstruct completely satisfactory 
achievement and to emphasize and widen variations. How- 
ever, in spite of these difficulties, the best general measure of 
pupil attainment is found in the use of standardized test ma- 
terial. 

Courtis Tests in Arithmetic 

The achievements of pupils in the fundamentals of arith- 
metic are indicated in the results of the Courtis Standard Test& 
in Arithmetic, Series B. The complete returns for the school 
for both rate and accuracy in each operation are given in Table 
XXX. 

The group containing the median performance is printed in 
bold type. In rate of work the medians show a fairly regular 
progression from grade four to grade eight though there is a 
wide spread of achievements in every grade and consequently 
much overlapping. It will be noted, for example, in eighth 
grade addition that one pupil attempted only two examples 
while two pupils attempted as many as eighteen. 

78 



Standard Attainments 



79 



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so 



School Adjustment 



In accuracy the same improvement from grade to grade is 
not noticeable, but this is due partly to the fact that each in- 
terval in the table represents a span of ten points on a per cent 
scale. In addition to this it must be remembered that per 
cents of accuracy are calculated upon an increasing number of 
attempts as the grades advance. However, with the exception 
of 90% accuracy, which can be attained only by those pupils 
who attempt ten or more examples, every degree of accuracy is 
represented in every grade in each operation. In every grade, 
then, for both rate and accuracy, the tables show a wide range 
of attainment. This condition is important in any considera- 
tion of medians or central tendencies. 



Table XXXI 

Median Scores — Courtis Standard Tests — Arithmetic Series B 
Stanton-Arthur School March and June Scores and Courtis Gen. Medians 







Addition 


Subtraction 


Multiplication 


Division 


Grade 


Rate 


% 
Accuracy 


Rate 


% 
Accuracy 


Rate 


% 
Accuracy 


Rate 


% 
Accuracy 


IV 


March Scores 
June Scores 
Courtis Gen. 


4.6 
6.6 

7.4 


65 
68 
64 


5.4 
6.6 

7.4 


65 
79 

80 


4.6 
5.6 
6.2 


64 
73 
67 


3.0 
3.7 
4. '6 


42 
57 
57 


V 


March Scores 
June Scores 
Courtis Gen. 


4.4 
7.6 
8.6 


73 
70 
70 


5.9 
6.9 
9.0 


80 

84 
83 


5.3 
6.8 
7.5 


73 
70 
75 


4.2 
4.7 
6.1 


67 
70 

77 


VI 


March Scores 
Jvme Scores 
Courtis Gen. 


6.4 

8.5 
9.8 


71 

76 
73 


7.7 

8.4 

10.3 


78 
86 
85 


7.5 
7.8 
9.1 


78 
82 

78 


5.3 

6.7 

8.2 


81 
88 
87 


VII 


March Scores 
June Scores 
Courtis Gen. 


7.6 

9.8 

10.9 


70 
76 
75 


8.9 
10.7 
11.6 


83 

88 
86 


8.5 
10.0 
10.2 


80 
79 
80 


6.4 
7.9 
9.6 


83 
90 
90 


VIII 


March Scores 
June Scores 
Courtis Gen. 


8.1 
10.4 
11.6 


73 
75 
76 


9.9 
11.2 
12.9 


86 
89 

87 


9.7 
11.5 
11.5 


81 
87 
81 


7.5 
10.2 
10.7 


87 
97 
91 



The scores presented in Table XXX represent the achieve- 
ments of pupils in March and hence are not exactly comparable 
with the Courtis General Medians which are calculated from 
June scores. 

Another form of the same test was therefore administered 
in June. In Table XXXI are shown the median scores for both 
March and June, together with the Courtis general medians. 



' Standard Attainments 81 

. Comparison of these March and June median scores shows 
that marked progress was made in the three months period 
intervening. This progress was greatest and most general in 
rate of work. The number of examples attempted increased 
in every operation in all grades. An advance in accuracy is 
shown in every case except fifth grade addition and fifth and 
seventh grade multiplication. These June scores represent the 
achievements of pupils not only at the close of the term's work 
but at the completion of a three months period of special drill 
on the fundamental operations. To what degree the achieve- 
ments here represented indicate permanent abihty it is difficult 
to say, but it is at least safe to assert that these June scores 
were made under favorable circumstances and that they prob- 
ably are higher than would be obtained under average condi- 
tions. 

Notwithstanding these unusually propitious conditions, it will 
be seen on examination of the table that in rate of work the 
school medians average one or more examples lower than the 
Courtis general medians. In accuracy a somewhat better 
showing is made, the medians for the school exceeding those 
of Courtis in eleven of the twenty cases. It must be remem- 
bered, however, that accuracy for the school is calculated on 
a base of fewer examples attempted than is the case for the 
Courtis medians. 

At the same time that the tests were given originally in the 
Stanton School in March, they were also administered under 
identical conditions in six other Philadelphia public schools. 
Four of these schools are so located as to draw pupilage from 
representative white communities and two schools are made up 
entirely of negro pupils. Results of the tests in the seven 
schools show marked divergence. Three of the lowest school 
medians (fifth grade addition and multiplication and eighth 
grade subtraction) are contributed by the Stanton School and 
the school is consistently below the median for the group of 
schools tested. That the reason for these low scores lies in the 
character of the pupilage of the school is indicated by the fact 
that, of the twenty low^est medians, sixteen are contributed by 
the three schools whose pupils are entirely or predominantly 
negro. These schools contribute only two of the highest school 
medians. In the June test, the negro schools furnished eighteen 



82 



School Adjustment 



of the twenty lowest medians and only two of the highest. 
This situation indicates that the results in the Stanton School 
were uniformly lower than in the four white schools and gen- 
erally higher than in the two schools serving entirely negro 
pupilage. 

In order to confirm the above generalization as to the rela- 
tive performance of white and negro pupils, an analysis was made 
of the June results attained by pupils of the Stanton School. 
The scores for white and negro pupils were tabulated separately 

Table XXXII 

Courtis Standard Tests in Arithmetic — Series B 

Median Scores of White and Negro Pupils — Grades 6-8 





Number 

of 
Pupils 


Addition 


Subtraction 


Mult 
Rate 


iplication 

% 
Acciu-acy 


D 

Rate 


i vision 


Grade 


Rate 


% 
Accuracy 


Rate 


% 
Accuracy 


% 
Accuracy 


VI 


37 White 
114 Negro 

Difference 

49 White 
77 Negro 

Difference 

50 White 
46 Negro 

Difference 


8.6 
8.3 


78.0 
75.5 


8.8 
8.2 


86.7 
86.6 


9.2 

7.5 


81.8 
82.3 


7.5 
6.0 


100.0 

86.4 


VII 


.3 

10.4 
9.6 


2.5 

78.5 
72.5 


.6 

10.5 
10.8 


.1 

93.6 

85.5 


1.7 

10.0 
10.1 


— .5 

84.5 
76.9 


1.5 

8.7 
7.8 


13.6 

97.5 

87.6 


VIII 


.8 

10.9 
10.1 


6.0 

80.0 
70.0 


— .3 

11.5 
11.0 


8.1 

89.2 
88.0 


— .1 

11.3 
11.7 


7.6 

88.2 
87.1 


.9 

11.0 
9.5 


9.9 

95.0 
93.3 




.8 


10.0 


.5 


1.2 


— .4 


1.1 


1.5 


1.7 



Note: — indicates negro pupils in advance of whites. 

and the resulting medians are presented in Table XXXI I . 
The numbers of white pupils in grades four and five were so 
small as to make comparison impossible. Hence only grades 
six, seven and eight appear in this study. It will be noted in 
the table that the median achievement of white pupils is in 
advance of that for negro pupils in twenty-four of the twenty- 
eight cases. Negro pupils show slightly higher accuracy in 
sixth grade multiplication and higher rate in seventh grade 
subtraction and multiplication, and in eighth grade multipli- 
cation. The consistent difference here indicated is remarkable 
in view of the facts that a conscious attempt is made to classify 
pupils uniformly within grades so far as standard conditions 



Standard Attainments 



83 



permit, and that a finer selection of negro than of white pupils 
obtains in the upper grades. These results were obtained in 
June at the close of a period of intensive drill in which special 
attention was given to those pupils who had been doing notably 
poor work. In spite of the effort to obtain uniform classification 
within the hmits prescribed, and to effect uniformity of attain- 
ment through special drill with the slower pupils, it is seen 
that negro pupils generally achieve somewhat lower results in 
fundamentals of arithmetic than do the whites. 

Table XXXIII 
Monroe Standardized Reasoning Tests in Arithmetic 







Test III 






Test II 






Test II 






Test I 




Score 




Grade 8A 






Grade 7 






Grade 6 






Grade 5 




Intervals 


Principle 


Answers 


Principle 


Answers 


Principle 


Answers 


Principle 


Answers 




W. 


N. 


W. 


N. 


W. 


N. 


W. 


N. 


W. 


N. 


W. 


N. 


W. 


N. 


W. 


N. 


29-30 










1 


















3 






27-28 










2 
















1 


3 






25-26 










1 


1 






1 










8 






23-24 


1 








2 








1 








2 


4 






21-22 


2 








8 


3 


1 




1 








2 


9 




2 


19-20 


1 


1 






7 


6 


2 




1 


2 






1 


8 


1 


1 


17-18 


1 








10 


11 


4 


2 




2 


1 


2 


1 


3 


8 


1 


15-16 


3 


3 


1 




7 


12 


4 


3 


2 


4 


2 


2 


5 


4 


1 


4 


13-14 


5 


4 


3 




13 


13 


6 


11 


2 


6 


1 


3 


3 


10 


1 


9 


11-12 


8 


7 






9 


12 


17 


6 


7 


15 


2 


4 


1 


12 


3 


11 


9-10 


2 


7 


2 


1 


6 


13 


15 


17 


8 


15 


8 


16 


1 


7 


3 


13 


7- 8 


2 


6 


4 


4 


5 


8 


9 


16 


5 


24 


6 


23 


2 


9 


4 


12 


5- 6 


1 


5 


11 


9 


5 


4 


12 


15 


2 


25 


6 


24 


1 


3 


3 


15 


3- 4 


2 


1 


1 


9 


2 


1 


5 


10 


1 


11 


3 


24 


1 


3 


2 


10 


1- 2 






6 


10 

1 


1 


2 


3 
1 


5 
1 




4 


2 


8 
2 




7 
2 




10 
2 


Totals 


28 


34 


28 


34 


79 


86 


79 


86 


31 


108 


31 


108 


21 


90 


21 


90 


Medians 


12 


10 


6 


4 


14 


13 


10 


8 


11 


8 


8 


6 


15 


13 


10 


8 


Standards 


18.1 


9. 


4 


19 


.6 


13 


.6 


12 


.6 


9 


8 


15 


.6 


9.6 



Reasoning Tests in Arithmetic 
An attempt to measure reasoning abihty in arithmetic was 
made through the use of the Monroe Standardized Reasoning 
Tests in Arithmetic* 

In so far as these tests measure reasoning ability, the results 
may be taken as a rough indication of relative efficiency in the 
exercise of the higher mental powers. Since it is in this general 

* Monroe, W. S. Measuring the Results of Teaching, pp. 160 et seq. 



84 School Adjustment 

field of activity that scientific investigation points to the great- 
est divergence of attainments on the parts of the white and 
the negro, the achievements of pupils in the Stanton-Arthur 
school are presented by races in Table XXXIII. 

Only two grades took the same test. Hence the results 
are not exactly comparable between grades except in the case 
of grades six and seven, both of which took Test II. Examina- 
tion of the score distributions shows a wide range of achieve- 
ment for both white and negro pupils in all grades for both 
correct principle and answers. There is evidence here of im- 
proper and inefficient grading and classification of pupils and 
strong reason for the provision of such time schedules and de- 
spatching as will enable teachers to adjust the work to the 
needs and capacities of individuals or small homogeneous groups 
of pupils. 

Disregarding this great variation of achievement, it will be 
noted from the median scores that, in general, the white pupils 
are everywhere in advance of the negro pupils. This superi- 
ority ranges from 14% to 37% in median scores for principle 
and from 25% to 50% in correct answers. 

Compared with the standard scores determined by Dr. Mon- 
roe from the results of testing some 5000 children, the achieve- 
ments of both classes of pupils here presented are low. How- 
ever, some reason for the poor showing of the white pupils may 
be found in their classification into relatively large groups, 
comprised in the main of pupils whose powers of reflective think- 
ing are such as to retard the forward movement of the entire 
class. The relative position of median scores indicates that 
in general white pupils show an achievement half-way between 
that of the negro pupils and the standard scores. This is true 
for both reasoning and calculation. 

As has been indicated, one of the chief abilities measured by 
the "correct principle" scores is that of reading with under- 
standing. The abihty of the pupil to gather thought from the 
printed page is the first essential in the solution of arithmetical 
problems. It is not easy to isolate this quality, however, be- 
cause of the added difficulty presented by the technical terms 
of the problem and the further necessity of using both the 
thoughts presented by the text and the technical terms as a 
basis for the complex process of reasoning. All three of these 



Standard Attainments 85 

elements must operate successfully in combination, in order 
that a proper solution ensue. The isolation of these elements 
is a prerequisite to the efficient application of remedial measures. 
These must be directed to the weaknesses displayed by indi- 
viduals in one or another of the necessary elements. 

Silent Reading Tests 

An effort to isolate one of these three qualities — ability to 
read with understanding — is made by the same author in his 
Standardized Silent Reading Tests.* Something more than 
ordinary understanding of the printed page is required to secure 
correct answers and the comprehension score. The pupil must 
analyze situations presented, weigh alternatives and follow 
directions implicitly. All of these are elements in the com- 
prehension of some sorts of texts but their inclusion here puts 
the tests on a distinctly higher plane than the type of under- 
standing required for the ordinary appreciation of a description 
or narration. On the other hand, this type of test avoids the 
complication presented by requiring pupils to reproduce the 
essential points of the text and offers better conditions for 
uniform scoring of papers. 

The results of the test in grades 4 to 8 of the Stanton-Arthur 
School together with the standard scores presented by Dr. 
Monroe are given in Table XXXIV. Median scores 
for the tests are lower in every grade than the standards, though 
white pupils approximate these standards more closely than do 
negro pupils. The greatest disparity in results is found in 
grades four and five where Test I was used. In both rate and 
comprehension scores, Stanton-Arthur pupils are far below the 
standards in these grades. In rate of reading, the scores of 
fourth grade white pupils are not quite half way between the 
standards of grades three and four, while fourth grade negro 
pupils are far below even the third grade standard. In com- 
prehension, fourth grade white pupils just equal the standard 
score for grade three, while negro pupils are sfightly below the 
standard. The difficulty here indicated in silent reading for 
comprehension may be due largely to the use of a synthetic 
or word method of teaching reading in the lower grades. Too 
great emphasis is placed upon word calling to the exclusion of 

* Monroe, W. S. Op. cit., pp. 22 et seq. 



8G 



School Adjustment 



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Standard Attainments 87 

the proper development of the power of reading phrases and of 
getting thought from the printed page. 

Some trace of this handicap may be seen also in the results 
shown by grade five. In rate of reading, white pupils have a 
median score half-way between the standards for grades four 
and five, so that they may be said to be retarded one-half year 
in their development. The median score of negro pupils is 
half-way between the standards of grades three and four, show- 
ing them to be one and one-half years retarded and a full year 
behind the achievement of the white pupils with whom they are 
classified. In comprehension white pupils are only shghtly in 
advance of the fourth grade standard, while negro pupils are 
well below fourth grade standards and at least a half year 
behind their white classmates. 

In grades six, seven and eight where Test II was given, the 
rate scores of white pupils approximate Monroe standards, 
while negro pupils lag behind to a degree amounting to a half- 
year or more of progress. In comprehension, negro pupils are 
three times as far below standard scores as are the white pupils. 
The eighth grade negro median is only shghtly in advance of 
the sixth grade standard and is somewhat below the seventh 
grade median of white pupils of the school. 

The generally lower grade of attainment of negro pupils in 
fundamentals and reasoning in arithmetic, and in rate and 
comprehension in reading seems to be significant of failure 
properly to classify pupils within grades. However, when it is 
considered that advanced age and 'terms of service' in a given 
grade are important considerations in determining the pro- 
motion of pupils, the paradox appears that these retarded indi- 
viduals are in reahty accelerated, while younger, normal-progress 
pupils are at least relatively retarded. An element of diversity 
is therefore introduced in the very attempt at uniformity of 
classification under such circumstances as the standard con- 
ditions prescribe. Older pupils, more mature physically and 
mentally, though pedagogically retarded, are grouped perforce 
with younger, brighter, but more immature individuals. This 
condition is bound to bring about diversity of attainment in 
school subjects. 



88 



School Adjustment 



Trabue Language Scale 
Some indication of the effects of this situation may be seen 
in the results of a test in the completion of mutilated sentences. 
The Trabue Completion Test Language Scale B was adminis- 
tered in the school with results as shown in Table XXXV. 









Table XXXV 












Trabue Language Scale — B 










Grade 


Score 


V 


VI 


VII 


VIII 




W. 


N. 


W. 


N. 


W. 


N. 


W. 


N. 


20 














1 




19 














1 




18 












1 




2 


17 








1 


1 


1 


3 


1 


16 






1 


7 


2 


2 


2 


1 


15 








4 


3 


3 


7 


6 


14 


1 


4 


4 


5 


11 


12 


12 


4 


13 


1 


3 


6 


18 


17 


23 


6 


7 


12 


4 


9 


4 


23 


14 


10 


4 


13 


11 


2 


6 


6 


13 


8 


8 


6 


1 


10 


7 


20 


5 


23 


5 


6 


2 


4 


9 


3 


5 


1 


5 


1 


3 


1 


1 


8 


5 


10 




2 


1 


1 




2 


7 


1 


1 


1 


1 


1 




1 




6 




4 




1 


1 








5 








1 










4 


1 


6 














3 








' 










2 


















1 


















Total 


25 


68 


28 


104 


65 


70 


46 


42 


Median 


10.4 


10.4 


12.5 


12.4 


13.2 


13.3 


14.3 


13.0 


Q.* 


1.6 


1.6 


1.35 


1.4 


1.15 


1.3 


1.55 


1.6 


Trabue Stand. 


9.6 


11.0 


12 


.3 


13 


.3 



* Semi-interquartile range. 

The median scores are in every grade slightly in advance of 
the standards suggested by the author of the scale.* This is 
due partly to the recent introduction of a new course of study 
in English which stresses such exercises as are represented in 
the Completion Test. The medians for negro and white pupils 
are practically identical in grades five, six and seven, while in 
grade eight white pupils exceed the median achievement of 
negro pupils by 10%. Variability as indicated by Q also shows 
remarkable uniformity. 

* Completion Test Language Scales, M. R. Trabue. 



Standard Attainments 89 

Distribution of the scores of sixth grade pupils by age shows 
again a notable uniformity of achievement at various ages. 
Here is a probable explanation of the uniformity of results 
of negro and white pupils. We would expect such results to 
be uniform in a test which showed median achievement for 
fifteen-year-old sixth grade pupils to be equal to that of eleven- 
year-olds in the same grade. The tests, it would seem, support 
the teacher in her classification of pupils. This view is ex- 
pressed by the author as a result of his own investigation. f 
However, while the results of the Trabue tests have shown 
high coefficients of correlation with teachers' estimates and tests 
of mental ability, their correlation with tests of achievement 
in fundamental arithmetic is either very low or negative. 

Ayres Spelling Scale 

Spelling is usually taught and tested in context. For this 
reason there would have been an advantage in using a sentence 
test for the purpose of measuring the spelling achievements of 
pupils in the school. However, because of the greater definite- 
ness of standards for column spelling tests, the latter form was 
used. 

The test given in the school consisted of twenty-five words 
taken from Group T of the Ayres Spelling Scale. These words 
were selected by the Division of Reference and Research of 
the New York City Department of Education for the purpose 
of testing speUing achievement in the schools of Districts 45 
and 46 of that city. The words possess, then, the double advan- 
tage of the Ayres standardization and the New York verifi- 
cation. The scores obtained in the spelling of the selected 
list of words are presented in detail in Table XXXVI. There 
is wide variation in achievement, especially in grades five and 
six. The words were not sufficiently difficult to serve as a 
satisfactory test of the ability of the better spellers in grades 
seven and eight. However, both these conditions are identical 
with those of the Ayres test and that given in Richmond Bor- 
ough on the same words. 

Median scores attained by Stanton-Arthur pupils are in 
every case lower than those of Richmond Borough pupils, 

t See Los Angeles Division of Ed. Research — Second Year Book, p. 40. 
Results generally in advance of Trabue Standards. 



90 



School Adjustment 



though the differences are slight, except in grade five, where 
the median scores of Stanton pupils are more than four words 
below those of Richmond Borough. 

Table XXXVI 
Distribution of Spelling Scores by Grades 



Scores in 




















words 


5A 


5B 


6A 


6B 


7A 


7B 


8A 


8B 


Total 


25 






1 




7 


10 


11 


9 


38 


24 




1 


2 


5 


5 


11 


11 


16 


51 


23 






2 


8 


4 


9 


11 


8 


42 


22 




1 


1 


9 


7 


5 


7 


7 


37 


21 


1 




6 


6 


3 


9 


2 


6 


33 


20 




2 


5 


4 


6 


3 


7 


3 


30 


19 


2 


2 


8 


8 


7 


3 


1 


1 


32 


18 




4 


2 


3 


5 


4 


3 


1 


22 


17 




1 


5 


7 


5 


3 






21 


16 


1 


5 


8 


6 


5 


2 


2 


1 


30 


15 


1 




2 


8 


4 








15 


14 


5 


8 


1 


6 


2 


3 


1 




26 


13 


3 


4 


3 


3 


4 






1 


]8 


12 


3 


4 


4 


3 


2 


1 






17 


11 


8 


4 


2 


1 


3 


1 


1 




20 


10 


1 


4 


4 


1 


1 








11 


9 


3 


3 


5 


2 




1 






14 


8 


4 


3 


1 


2 


1 








11 


7 


2 


9 


6 


1 


2 


1 






21 


6 


5 


5 


2 


2 










14 


5 


10 


7 


2 












19 


4 


6 


5 


1 








1 




13 


3 


8 


5 


5 




1 








19 


2 


6 


4 


2 


1 










13 


1 


6 




1 












7 





4 
















4 


Total 


79 


81 


81 


86 


74 


66 


58 


53 


578 


Stanton Medians 


6.0 


10.0 


16.0 


18.0 


19.4 


22.4 


23.4 


23.9 




Richmond Borough 




















Medians 


10.7 


14.2 


17.8 


20.3 


21.4 


22.6 


23.6 


24.0 




Ayres' Standard 




















Scores 


50 




66 




79 




88 






Richmond Borough 




















Average Scores 


48 


.9 


70 


.0 


81 


.1 


89 


.6 




Stanton Average 




















Scores 


34 


.6 


61 


.9 


77 


.3 


88 


.6 




Stanton Medians by 




















Race — White 


11 


.3 


19 


.6 


20 


.7 


23 


.7 




Negro 


7 


.3 


16 


.1 


21 


.1 


23 


.4 





The Ayres standard scores are given in per cents by complete 
grades. These are presented in the table together with the 
average per cent scores of the two groups considered here. It 
will be noted that Richmond Borough scores are above the 



Standard Attainments 91 

Ayres standard in grades six, seven and eight, while Stanton 
scores exceed that standard only in grade eight. In grade five, 
the Stanton scores are notably low. 

Distribution of the Stanton scores on a basis of race indi- 
cates that in grades five and six the white pupils are in advance 
of the negro pupils to an extent equal to or greater than the 
difference between the scores of the Stanton School and the 
schools of Richmond Borough (Table XXXVI). Indeed white 
pupils equal or exceed the Richmond Borough medians, while 
medians for negro pupils are respectively 4 and 3.5 words below 
those for whites. In grades seven and eight, where the finer 
selection of negro pupils obtains, there is a practical equality of 
achievement. 

Intelligence Tests 

In an attempt to secure an indication of mental capacity as 
shown by InteUigence Tests, and at the same time to cooperate 
with Government psychologists in the standardization of army 
intelHgence tests, the Thorndike Air Service Tests of Mental 
Alertness for Enlisted Men were administered by assistants of 
Dr. Thorndike to the pupils of grades 6, 7 and 8 in the Stanton 
School. These tests consisted of a series of eight distinct units, 
covering involved directions, simple problems in arithmetic, 
synonyms and antonyms, practical judgment, detecting highest 
and lowest number in series, noting relationships and continu- 
ing interrupted series of numbers, visual imagery (identifying 
a given character from among a group), and logical relation- 
ships. In addition to this test, there was also applied an illit- 
erate test in order that it might be standardized for army use.* 
The results were tabulated by Dr. Thorndike's assistants, 
though the work of developing standards and discovering cor- 
relations with results of Binet Intelligence Tests and school 
progress records was interrupted by the conclusion of the war. 
Because such standards have not been estabhshed and since 
the intelligence test used has been materially modified, it was 
deemed unwise to present individual results in this paper, 
though it will be interesting to note in Table XXXVII that 
median scores are in every case less than half of the total possible 
score (145 points) and that the highest score achieved by an 
eighth grade pupil is 104. 

* Thorndike, E. L. Journal of Applied Psychology, April, 1919. 



92 



School Adjustment 



It is probable that the test in general was too difficult for 
elementary pupils, that the time allotment was too brief, or 
that directions were not thoroughly understood. It is doubt- 
ful if the results of these tests can be taken as a measure of the 
mental abiUty of the pupils tested, but it is entirely proper 
to use them as a measure of variation in the mental abilities 
tested. It will be noted in the Table that this range of varia- 
tion is great in every case and may be used in support of figures 
already presented, showing wide variation in achievement in 
school work. 

Table XXXVII 

Thorndike Air Service Tests of Mental 
Alertness 







Grade 




Scores 










6 


7 


8 


High Score 


70 


87 


104 


Q3 


46 


60 


65 


Median 


39 


50 


57 


Qi 


28 


42 


50 


Low Score 


6 


15 


22 



An examination of the score distributions indicates that the 
range of the middle 50% is narrow and that there is wide scatter- 
ing in both the lower and upper quartiles of the distribution. 
It will be noted in Table XXXVII that approximately 20% 
of the sixth grade scores are above the median of the seventh 
grade and that 30% of the seventh grade scores are above 
the eighth grade median. On the other hand, 10% of the 
eighth grade scores are below the sixth grade median and 20% 
of the seventh grade scores are below that median. The achieve- 
ments represented by scores in the middle 50% are sufficiently 
uniform to indicate that these pupils are properly graded. But 
the wide scattering of individual scores at the upper and lower 
ends of the distribution seems to indicate failure properly to 
classify pupils so that they may do most effective work. Pupils 
making extreme scores in this test should have their ratings 
verified by some standardized group intelligence test. If the 
results are similar in the two tests, the individual pupils at the 



Standard Attainments 93 

upper and lower ends of the distribution should be further 
investigated by the Terman Revision of the Biiiet Intelligence 
Tests. Individuals might then be placed in the grades so as 
to secure relatively homogeneous grouping and the highest 
possibility for each pupil to progress with maximum efficiency. 

Summary 

1. Distribution of scores in tests on the fundamentals of 
arithmetic show a wide range of attainment in every grade. 
This range increases as the grades advance. 

2. After three months of special drill, results in a similar test 
show marked improvement. However, median scores average 
one example less than the Courtis general medians in rate and 
show only fair accuracy. 

3. Comparison of scores attained in seven schools under 
similar conditions shows the three schools of entirely or pre- 
dominatingly negro pupilage to achieve uniformly lower results. 

4. Negro pupils in the Stanton School achieved generally 
lower median scores than did white pupils. 

5. In tests of reasoning ability in arithmetic, white pupils of 
the school exceed colored pupils in median scores by approxi- 
mately 25% in principle and 37% in computation. 

6. In Monroe Standardized Silent Reading Tests all medians 
are below standard scores, especially in grades four and five, 
though white pupils approach these standards more closely 
than do negro pupils. 

7. Results in the Trabue Completion Test Language Scale 
are high and show little racial difference in achievement. 

8. Spelling scores show a wide range of variation, especially 
in the lower grades. Scores are especially low in grade five but 
slightly exceed the Ayres Standard in grade eight. In grades 
five and six the median scores of negro pupils are lower than 
those of white pupils though they slightly exceed the white 
median in grade seven. 

9. The results of an unstandardized intelligence test (Thorn- 
dike Army Air Service Test for Enlisted Men) show extreme 
differences in every grade in the abilities of pupils. 



CHAPTER V 

THE WORKING AIMS OF A UNIT SCHOOL 
General Aims 

The general aim of education postulates the adjustment of 
the individual to those elements and processes of his environ- 
ment that are of concern in modern life. Education should 
bring about "such a control of themselves and of the world's 
resources by pupils as will make them high-minded, apprecia- 
tive, thoughtful and generally efficient participators in the 
world's affairs."* It is to the life about it that the school looks 
for the subject matter of its instruction, and a "curriculum will 
be good to the degree in which it contains problems — mental, 
moral, aesthetic and economic — that are socially vital and yet 
within the appreciation of the pupils."* However, while there 
is much in common, modern life is not the same for all, par- 
ticularly if considered from the point of view of those elements 
that are of prime concern to different groups and individuals. 
Thus, even on the objective or content side, there is empha- 
sized the individual and his specific needs. Consequently one 
of the most important functions of a school is so to select its 
subject matter and activities as to include all those common ele- 
ments that are essential to the formation of a broad like-minded- 
ness fundamental to sound social organization, and at the same 
time to provide for those special adjustments made necessary 
by variant immediate environmental conditions as well as the 
diverse capacities and interests of particular individuals. 

The aim of education requires that we "develop, organize 
and train the powers of the individual that he may make effi- 
cient and proper use of them."| Here, on the subjective side, 
the aim seems wholly individual except in so far as the develop- 
ment and use of individual powers depend upon immediate 
environment. In reality the two are correlative. An activity 
is educative largely as the medium in which it functions is 
adjusted to the powers of the individual, and as he senses a real 
need or purpose in its execution. The knowledge, power and 
habits that determine a well-ordered daily hfe come through 

*McMurry: El. School Standards— P 3. 
|See P 13. 

94 



The Working Aims of a Unit School 95 

the wise purpose-choosing, thoughtful planning, painstaking ex- 
ecution and final judgment of results which are typical of real 
life situations.! Such efficient and proper use of powers con- 
stitutes character. Its de-velopment requires on the one hand 
individual stimulation and guidance adjusted to the instincts 
and developing powers of the child, and, on the other, a close 
correlation of school work with the life activities of the imme- 
diate social environment. 

Characteristics of School's Community 

Communities, like persons, assume individuality. The par- 
ticular school to which this study is limited serves a community 
which, like all others, has developed distinguishing character- 
istics. These mark it off from the larger society of which it is 
a part and form a body of environing conditions to which the 
school must make proper adjustment if its work is to conform 
to the aim of education. The more prominent of these condi- 
tions as set forth in preceding chapters may be grouped under 
three heads: social, economic and intellectual, though such 
grouping is by no means mutually exclusive. 

In the community studied, perhaps the most important dis- 
tinguishing feature in each one of the above divisions is that of 
race. That this condition is not the result of inherent racial 
differences is indicated by many wholly impartial and scientific 
investigations. To quote an authority in this field, ''It would 
be erroneous to assume that there are no differences in the 
mental make-up of the negro race and of other races, and that 
their activities should run in the same lines. On the contrary, 
if there is any meaning in correlation of anatomical structure 
and physiological function, we must expect that differences 
exist. There is, however, no evidence whatever that would 
stigmatize the negro as of weaker build, or as subject to inclina- 
tions and powers that are opposed to our social organization. 
An unbiased estimate of the anthropological evidence so far 
brought forward does not permit us to countenance the belief 
in a racial inferiority which would unfit an individual of the 
negro race to take his part in modern civilization. We do not 
know of any demand made on the human body or mind in 

fSee Kilpatrick, Wm. H. The Project Method, Teachers' College Record 
— September, 1918. 



"96 School Adjustment 

modern life that anatomical or ethnological evidence would 
prove to be beyond the powers of the negro."* What differences 
do exist are often magnified out of all proportion to their sig- 
nificance. Specific group and individual differences resulting 
entirely from environmental circumstance have been errone- 
ously associated with racial peculiarities as if their connection 
were essentially that of cause and effect. These often become 
rooted so deeply in social tradition and prejudice as not only 
to accentuate the original peculiarities, but also effectually to 
obstruct a disentanglement. However, in a democracy com- 
mitted unmistakably to 'equality of opportunity,' it is desir- 
able that the school base its work on community conditions as 
they exist, though it must ever guard against the possibility 
of setting up for a race or a group something less than a com- 
plete aim of education. 

Social Conditions 

Analysis of the social conditions surrounding the Stanton- 
Arthur School (pp. 18-36) shows a relatively unstable popula- 
tion composed of whites and negroes; the whites decreasing 
in numbers and the negroes increasing rapidly by immigration. 
This negro population contains a large proportion of females, 
a large proportion of young people and relatively few children. 
Marital conditions are unstable, housing is unsatisfactory, the 
lodger evil is acute, mothers too frequently are employed out- 
side the home and social life in general is centered elsewhere 
than in the home. These conditions, among others, indicate a 
social background which deserves careful consideration by the 
school. From the point of view of securing the best possible 
standard conditions, the school should consciously turn its 
attention toward improving the home. From the point of view 
of adjusting the work and aims of the school to the capacities 
and needs of the individual, there is reason for a somewhat 
general departure from the relatively uniform requirements of 
a large public school system. 

Economic Conditions 

Economic conditions in the community (pp. 30-32) show a 
range from abject poverty resulting from ill health and incom- 
* Boas, F., The Mind of Primitive Man, pp. 271-2. 



The Working Aims of a Unit School 97 

petence to the comfortable prosperity of the skilled mechanic 
and the small business man. However, especially among the 
negroes, there is very general and precarious dependence upon 
the daily wage from unskilled labor. This condition often 
makes it necessary for all members of the family to engage in 
gainful occupations and causes many children to be withdrawn 
from school on their arrival at legal working age regardless of 
their preparation for satisfactory employment. This condition 
should serve to emphasize to the school the importance (1) of 
adjusting its work to the probable length of schooling of each 
individual, (2) of retaining children so far as is possible until 
such time as they indicate at least some degree of interest in 
and adaptability to a general field of work, (3) of being pre- 
pared to advise pupils as to particular employments and to 
supervise their placement, and (4) of continuing supervisory 
relations over such children until they become relatively estab- 
lished in their work and give promise of satisfactory progress. 

Intellectual Conditions 

The degree of culture and general intellectual status of a 
community has large effect in establishing its ideals. These 
in turn determine progress. Intellectual ideals and achieve- 
ment are so interwoven into the social and economic fabric 
that it would be difficult to segregate them if this were desir- 
able. Nevertheless, due to whatever cause or combination of 
causes, there are in the school's community indications of re- 
tarded intellectual development. These do not of necessity 
point to ineradicable inherent stigmata among individuals of 
the group, but they represent a condition of which the school 
must be cognizant in formulating its aims and planning its 
work. As the instability of the population is reflected in ex- 
cessive pupil turn-over in the school, so also is the general back- 
wardness of a large part of the community reflected in excessive 
non-attendance at school, truancy, over-age, retardation and 
lack of determined apphcation to the work of the school. This 
statement still retains much of its force after placing full re- 
sponsibility upon the school itself for its failure to make proper 
adjustments of its aims and work to the immediate needs of 
the community. In relative achievements in the more formal 
school subjects it is found that, while negro pupils show gener- 



98 School Adjustment 

ally somewhat lower median scores than whites, on the whole 
the median scores of all pupils combined are lower than stand- 
ards established by wide investigation (pp. 80-90). This con- 
dition, combined with the fact that the individual range of 
variation in achievement is generally very wide (pp. 79-90), 
suggests the advisability of special emphasis on these funda- 
mental subjects and at the same time a variation in content 
and method to adjust the work to the widely differing capaci- 
ties and interests of pupils. 

Selection of Content 

Details of subject matter and specific methods should be 
selected on a basis of their efficiency in furthering these sub- 
ordinate aims or immediate objectives, the accomplishment of 
which will make essential contribution to the realization of the 
broader aim. Indeed, "Each phase of the educational aim 
must be analyzed into specific ends, and the whole range of 
human knowledge and experience searched through for the 
details which definitely and certainly further each in the most 
many-sided relationships and with the greatest likelihood of 
recurrence in every-day life. When included in the educational 
content they must be organized, not merely with a view to the 
indirect furtherance of these ends through general knowledge 
and culture, but in such fashion that, whether facts or activi- 
ties, they will, through gradual accumulation and reorganiza- 
tion, be definitely and certainly associated with all others that 
tend to the specific aim upon whose furtherance their direct 
usefulness depends."* Human life consists in the performance 
of specific activities which can be discovered for any social 
group, however numerous and diverse they may be. These 
activities will show the abilities, attitudes, habits, appreciations 
and forms of knowledge that we need and they become the 
definite and particularized objectives of the curriculum. f Inci- 
dental or undirected developmental experience contributes much 
but leaves training imperfect. It is necessary to supplement 
such experience with the conscious directed training of sys- 
tematized education. The curriculum of a school aims at the 
objectives that are not sufficiently attained as a result of the 

* Yocum, A. Duncan — Culture, Discipline and Democracy — p. 24. 
t Bobbibt, F., The Curriculum, p. 42 et seq. 



The Working Aims of a Unit School 99 

general undirected experience. The curriculum of directed 
training is to be discovered in the shortcomings of individuals 
after undirected training has done its work. It would seem 
desirable, therefore, that the working aims of the Stanton- 
Arthur School should be so shaped as to include all those spe- 
cific qualities of democratic citizenship that are fundamental 
to proper individual and social habits, attitudes and interests, 
and to lay special emphasis on those qualities essential to a 
well-rounded development but likely to be counteracted by the 
influences of an unfavorable environment. 

Moral Character 

Thus in a community with the social conditions described 
above, the work of the school should be permeated throughout 
with such moral attributes as regularity, punctuality, responsi- 
bility, neatness, accuracy, tenacity of purpose, truthfulness, 
honesty and purity of thought and action. To attain maximum 
effectiveness, these qualities should be developed in such a 
way as to show their essential connection with real life situa- 
tions. This can be done ne\er so effectively as when life situa- 
tions themselves are brought into the school work. Thus in- 
directly and only gradually will the influence of the school be 
felt in home and social life. In addition, more direct and im- 
mediate influence could be brought to bear if the school were 
made the social clearing house for the neighborhood. In this 
way with common understanding and united purpose, parents 
and children would work together to the advantage of both 
in the creation and execution of a constructive home and com- 
munity program. 

Health Habits 

In similar manner the school should emphasize all phases 
of hygiene and physical education. Sudden change in climatic 
conditions, poor housing, irregular working hours, unwise recrea- 
tion and general disregard for the laws of health, have been 
seen to cause a high death rate and much illness, with attendant 
economic and social evils. It is only as the school inculcates 
in all its pupils proper health habits, and follows their execution 
into the home and the street that definite results can be accom- 
plished. 



100 School Adjustment 

Efficient Home Life 
Together with morahty and health, both of which center 
largely around the home, it has been seen that there are many 
other elements of home life that call for special recognition 
on the part of this school. Improvidence, unsanitary housing, 
the absence of mothers at work, the presence of lodgers, un- 
regulated social life outside the home, make it desirable that 
the school should aim to improve home conditions not only 
through pupils, but also through direct contact with the home 
itself. Instruction in practical household economy, in bodily 
cleanliness, orderliness, neatness, wise purchasing, sane decora- 
tion, cooking, sewing, sanitation, child hygiene, all bearing 
directly upon actual home conditions, should be offered. Such 
instruction, it would seem, should constitute an important part 
of the regular school work and might very properly be intro- 
duced well down in the grades. By means of its specific con- 
nection with actual home conditions, the interest of parents 
would be aroused to the point of encouraging their attendance 
at evening meetings in the school for the discussion of vital 
topics. From such discussion there would emerge a conscious 
desire for better home conditions and general civic improve- 
ment. With the formation of definite community projects and 
their execution by the combined efforts of pupils and parents, 
there would come not only a marked improvement in social 
standards but also a keen appreciation of the function of a 
pubUc school in its community. In this way the "compulsory" 
feature of education may gradually assume less importance, 
for only as parents and pupils alike realize the essential con- 
nection of the school with their home and community life, 
can the school hope to foster that true motivation and interest 
that will bring about in each individual the highest approxi- 
mation to complete development. 

Vocational Efficiency 
In similar manner, as has already been seen, it is important 
for the working aim of the school in this particular community 
to emphasize preparation for vocational efficiency. With the 
limited time at its disposal and the lack of fundamental prepa- 
ration on the part of its pupils, it would be unwise for the school 
to attempt specific vocational training in any general way. 



The Working Aims of a Unit School 101 

However, considering the extent to which pupils leave school 
from grades 5 and 6, it might be wise to anticipate such early 
withdrawal to the extent of affording opportunity for training 
in some elementary specific vocational skill upon which future 
development may be based. For all pupils there should be 
such adjustment of method and content as would permit a 
general survey of the more important occupations of the com- 
munity — the opportunities afforded and the demands of each. 
In this connection there should be developed a keen apprecia- 
tion of the importance of vocational ideals and a recognition 
of individual responsibility for social service through voca- 
tional efficiency. 

Minimum Essentials 

In its attempt to achieve these community aims, the school 
must in no way lose sight of its 'traditional' function. The 
common core of knowledge, habits and attitudes, the minimum 
essentials, must be achieved in the elementary school. This 
common minimum is determined by the larger society of which 
the individual is a part and it is upon this foundation that 
democracy is based. "The first six years of school life should 
give the 'tools' of an education, correct habits in the u^e of 
the mother tongue; familiarity with the simple thrilling story 
of the birth and growth of our country, with emphasis on what 
the citizen owes the community for what It gives him, an in- 
terpretation of the common things of nature in the environ- 
ment; an elementary survey of the world and its peoples, from 
the traveler's viewpoint; the useful things in home economics 
and in manual training, the one for the girls and the other for 
the boys; sufficient knowledge to conserve health and to protect 
life; and finally, provision against the ennui of leisure hours, 
by laying the foundations of taste in music, in art, and in lit- 
erature. Learning to read, to write, to spell, and to use the 
processes of arithmetic that fall within the simple situations 
of the child's experience, must remain, now, as of old, the dis- 
tinctive work of this period."* However, it is entirely inade- 
quate to select subjects as wholes with a view to the accom- 
plishment of the minimum essentials. "The determination of 

* Bunker, F. F. — Reorganization of the Public School System. U. S. Bureau 
of Education Bulletin, 1916, No. 8. 



102 School Adjustment 

minimum essentials for a particular school subject must be 
preceded by the determination of minimum essentials in edu- 
cational aims, regardless of the branches to be held responsible 
for each essential. The course of study as a whole must include : 

"1. Both general usefulness and specifically social aims. 

"2. All forms of mental training or control — varying im- 
pression, vocabulary, associations, fixed associations or habits 
and transfer. 

"3. The various stages in retention — or forms of material 
from the standpoint of retention — that further each form of 
control: impressionistic material that is designated to be for- 
gotten (impression control), optional material that is marked 
for a retention that varies with individuals (vocabulary and 
variation control), and memorized material which may be drilled 
upon and reviewed (habit control). An amount of each of these 
forms of material adequate to each of the educational aims 
and forms of control is a minimum essential in some branch 
or other."* 

Consequently there should be a minute analysis of subject 
matter, a determination for each detail of its general or specific 
usefulness, of the forms of control and retention essential to 
such usefulness, and the definite association of each detail with 
the thing that certainly suggests the value it is included to 
realize. 

Recent developments in educational practice are proving that 
the minimum essentials can be achieved most profitably in the 
first six years of school life. Thus there are left to the Stanton- 
Arthur School two additional years in which to make special 
provision for meeting specific individual needs. This it is nec- 
essary to do, but there are a large number of pupils who never 
reach this stage of educational advancement. It seems advis- 
able that adjustments in even common minimums outlined 
above be made for these individuals recognizing their advanced 
stage of physiological maturity, as well as the approaching 
termination of the school's influence. For such over-age, mal- 
adjusted pupils it may be wise to sacrifice certain elements of 
sta^idard courses of instruction in order to secure sufficiently 
thorough grounding in the fundamentals of reading, writing 

* Yocum, A. Duncan — Schoolmen's Week Proceedings, U. of Penna., 1917. 
pp. 173^. 



The Working Aims of a Unit School 103 

and practical elementary arithmetic, and at the ' same time 
to develop sound physical, social, moral and vocational habits 
and attitudes, based on intimate knowledge of individual pupil 
capacity, ability and probable future development. 

Having in mind then the demands of society in general, the 
needs of the particular community and the varying capacities 
and interests of its pupils, the school aims so to adjust its ac- 
tivities to particular social and community needs as to promote 
in each individual, through directed training, the fullest possible 
socialized self-realization. 



CHAPTER VI 

ATTAINMENT OF AIMS UNDER STANDARD 
CONDITIONS 

Conditions Accepted as Standard 
Certain limiting conditions both external and internal to the 
larger system of which this school is a unit organization, and 
certain other limitations peculiar to this school must be met 
in the attempt to achieve the working aim. These conditions 
have been detailed in previous chapters. The most general 
limitation is that placed upon the taxing power of the Board of 
Education. With a tax rate of six mills (1919) the expense of 
teaching each elementary pupil for a year must be limited to 
an average of $37.05.* The effects of such inadequate funds 
are reflected in plant, equipment, personnel, organization and 
in all departments of the work of the schools. This general 
limitation affects the particular school in question by affording 
in one building only the barest minimum in the form of ade- 
quate classroom facilities with no proper provision for assembly, 
play, yard space or special activities of any kind. The other 
building is of the box type, three floors of six rooms each, no 
halls, cloak rooms, play room, auditorium, no space or facilities 
for special activities, vicious lighting and none but window 
ventilation. 

The teaching force of the school is supplied from the general 
eligible list of the entire school system without special regard 
to aptitude for, interest in, or sympathy for the pecuUar prob- 
lems connected with the instruction of a group of pupils pre- 
dominantly negro. The school has been fortunate in retaining 
a large number of teachers who have grown with the problem 
and whose social spirit prompts them to continue their im- 
portant duties. 

The organization of the school is limited by the provision 
in the rules of the Board of Education requirine, an average 
of forty pupils in attendance per teacher and by wholly inade- 
quate provision for special activities. Seven 7th and 8th grade 
classes have been compelled to go to a neighboring school one 

* Based on average attendance. Report of Board of Education, Phila., 
1918, p. 209. 

104 



Achievement of Immediate Objectives 105 

session each week for instruction in cooking and manual train- 
ing. This practice was discontinued in September, 1919, leav- 
ing the school entirely without provision of any kind for instruc- 
tion in manual or household arts except sewing for girls. This 
instruction is given in regular classrooms, often with boys mark- 
ing time in the same room for lack of facilities for, or an in- 
structor in appropriate hand work. 

Uniform city standard courses of instruction, together with 
uniform grading and regular half-yearly promotions tend to 
make difficult of attainment efficient despatching, flexible grad- 
ing, the longer school day, and the desirable adjustment of 
courses and methods to specific individual and community 
needs. 

Adjustments to Increase Efficiency 

However, under the conditions briefly described above, and 
with the aid of such flexibility as does exist or may be secured 
by special dispensation, it is possible to make many adjust- 
ments in the organization and operations of the school with a 
viev/ to a closer approximation to the achievement of the edu- 
cational aim in each individual. Such adjustments must be 
confined largely to conditions internal to the school itself. 
They will include: 

1. The selection through group psychological tests of pupils 
of superior and inferior ability, and the more detailed indi- 
vidual study of these cases to determine proper placement in 
the grades, rates of progress and desirable variations in con- 
tent or method of instruction. 

2. The standardization of attainments In the various sub- 
jects of instruction and the estabhshment of working aims 
within reach of pupils grouped according to their abilities, 

3. The determination through diagnostic tests of particular 
individual difficulties and of special method to overcome them. 

4. The special grouping wherever possible of those pupils 
who expect shortly to discontinue school work in order that 
provision may be made for their pecuhar needs. 

5. Similar special grouping in vestibule classes of those new 
admissions, mainly from the South, who, although of advanced 
age, show marked results of the lack of educational oppor- 
tunity. 



106 School Adjustment 

6. A finer grouping of pupils in regular classes wherever 
possible (by reason of more than one class of the same numer- 
ical grade) in order to effect flexibihty of grading. 

7. Variation in emphasis and selection from standard courses 
of the specific details and activities that would most certainly 
further the realization of particular working aims and would 
emphasize at every possible point the relation of school work 
to actual community and home conditions. 

8. Adjustments in method to stress the dominantly ethical 
phases of life relationships and the fundamental moral habits 
and attitudes which should function so continuously in school 
work as to become unconscious guardians in out-of-school life. 

9. The establishment of a system of school credit for work 
done in the home to emphasize the important connection between 
the two, and at the same time to foster a spirit of cooperation 
between the home and the school which would result in moral 
benefits to both. 

10. The systematic use of the McCoach Playground to 
strengthen the training in hygiene and health habits as well 
as for the moral advantages to be derived from organized play. 

The conscious cooperation of the school with parents' associa- 
tions, churches, hospitals, the Y. M. C. A., the Armstrong 
Association and other social and civic agencies operating in 
the community toward the combined formulation of a compre- 
hensive home, school and community program would do much 
to strengthen the influence of the school and the effectiveness 
of its work. The adjustments above indicated, culminating 
in a wholesome, vigorous school spirit, based upon a thorough 
appreciation of the ideals of the school and a willingness to 
cooperate in their achievement, would result in a strength of 
character and fixedness of purpose so necessary for sound indi- 
vidual progress, especially for those pupils who by reason of their 
race are destined to be harassed by many obstacles. 

Opportunity Class 
Many of these adjustments are already being made and all 
of them can be effected with no change in plant, teaching force 
or expenditure, save, perhaps, in the equipment of two regular 
classrooms — one for an additional ungraded class and one for 
handwork and pre-vocational activities. Analysis of the pro- 



Achievement of Immediate Objectives 107 

cedure in the attainment of each of these suggested adjust- 
ments will be presented only briefly in view of the fact that 
many of them are but general applications of principles applied 
specifically and explained in detail in connection with the or- 
ganization and purposes of the special adjustment class referred 
to in a former chapter (p. 71). It will be remembered that this 
class could accommodate only eighteen of the most extreme 
cases of maladjustment. It was soon found that restoration 
to regular classes was impracticable and that adjustment to 
the regular course of study was not at all in line with meeting 
individual needs. What these pupils required was work of a 
very practical nature for immediate use. They were on the 
brink of elimination from school influence, though they were 
entirely unprepared mentally and morally for any degree of 
success in the work of the world. Accordingly, emphasis was 
placed on the inculcation of habits of industry, thrift, perse- 
verance and the like. Subject matter was motivated by prac- 
tical application and use in daily life. Special assignments 
with manual training, cooking and sewing classes were arranged. 
Pupils were encouraged to make individual studies of voca- 
tions, their opportunities and the requirements for success in 
each. Wide reading was stimulated and standards of taste 
and judgment were developed. In brief, an attempt was made 
in these few cases to meet the needs of the individual pupils 
by adjusting the course of study to those needs. This, it will 
be noted, is in direct opposition to the original purpose of the 
class. 

In order to become conversant with each individual and his 
needs, a series of examinations and tests was made. The 
school physician reported on health and physical condition and 
the school nurse followed up suggested treatment. The Binet- 
Simon Measuring Scale of Intelligence was applied. Courtis 
Standard Tests in the fundamentals of arithmetic and Monroe 
Standardized Reasoning Tests were administered. Monroe Si- 
lent Reading Tests, the Ayres Spelling Scale and Trabue Lan- 
guage Scale contributed their quota of information. In addi- 
tion there was individual investigation by the teacher on the 
fundamental concepts of content subjects. Personal interviews 
at school and at home brought to light social and environmental 
conditions and made the pupil regard the teacher as a real 
friend and adviser. 



108 School Adjustment 

After having been thus ' found ' physically, mentally, morally, 
socially, environmentally and even in some cases aesthetically, 
the status of each pupil was recorded on a graph. This served 
in the hands of the teacher to epitomize the status of each 
child, to show where special effort was required and to act as 
a base from which to record future progress toward established 
goals. With such detailed information as a guide, both teacher 
and pupil can work intelligently. 

So far as it is possible to depart from the standardized con- 
ditions and operations of a large school organization, some such 
treatment as is above indicated should be afforded the 109 
pupils of incomplete record (Table XXIX) and also many of 
the over-age and retarded pupils now retained in regular classes 
(Table XXVII). 

Ungraded Classes 

It is desirable that an attempt be made to meet this condition 
by the establishment of two additional ungraded classes. This 
could be effected by such redistribution of the school's pupilage 
(Table XI) as to form twenty-eight instead of thirty regular 
classes, thus increasing slightly the enrollment in each class 
but at the same time freeing two additional rooms and two 
teachers for special work. In this way there would be pro- 
vided in the school four special classes as follows: 

1. For mental defectives. 

2. For maladjustments (not to be restored to regular classes). 

3. For exceptional pupils of three types: 

a. Maladjusted pupils to be restored to regular classes. 

b. Cases of special disability in a particular subject. 

c. Cases requiring special attention for rapid advancement. 

4. For instruction in manual arts. 

a. Pre-vocational work for those about to leave school. 

b. Manual arts and home economics for all pupils of grades 

5 and 6. 

The first of these classes has been commented on in chap- 
ter III (p. 73). There is need for greater emphasis on hand 
work and less futile effort toward training higher powers of 
intellect that are hopelessly lacking.* The second type of 

* See Buckingham — Editorial. Journal of Ed'l Research, Feb., 1920. p. 
141. 



Achievement of Immediate Objectives 109 

€lass has been described in detail. One class of each type 
already exists in the school. 

The third type is suggested as a first step toward introducing 
flexibility into the grading of the school. The teacher would 
have no regularly assigned class. It is desirable that she be 
conversant with the work of all grades and be in possession 
of a broad, sympathetic spirit of helpful cooperation with 
teachers and pupils alike. By means of individual pupil rosters 
:she would receive at stated periods those pupils from regular 
classes who are in need of special assistance. These pupils 
would be dealt with as individuals or in small homogeneous 
groups and would be restored to their regular classes at the 
expiration of a brief daily period. This device would tend to 
encourage rapid progress in some individuals and to prevent 
slow progress in others. 

Industrial Arts and Prevocational Work 

The fourth type suggested above would have two distinct 
aims in view: first, to afford for pupils about to go to work, 
some prevocational training in addition to the regular course 
of instruction; and second, to provide for all pupils of grades 5 
and 6 one period (one and one-half hours) each week in which 
to gain an appreciation of the necessity and dignity of funda- 
mental manual occupations and to emphasize concretely the 
importance of wise household management and home-making. 
Periods could be so arranged that this teacher would meet 
the one pre-vocational class every afternoon for two hours and 
devote nine of the ten weekly morning periods to the nine 
classes of Grades 5 and 6. These classes would be so arranged 
that the boys from two parallel classes would attend for one 
period and the girls for another. Thus a double advantage 
would be secured. The segregation of boys and girls in the 
manual arts classes would facilitate differentiated courses and 
each regular class teacher would have two periods each week, 
one with the boys of her class and one with the girls, in which 
to pursue such school work with individual pupils as their 
immediate needs demand. The tenth morning period (one 
and one-half hours) for the special teacher should be left un- 
assigned. 

Reference to Tables XXII and XXVIII will show twenty-seven 
pupils of Grades 5 and 6 who have passed fifteen years of age. 



110 School Adjustment 

Since practically all of these pupils signify their intention of 
leaving school at the age of sixteen years, it would seem ad- 
visable to withdraw them from regular classes for the after- 
noon sessions to form a group whose special aim would be prepa- 
ration for vocation. Individual study of these pupils shows 
the very general need of special drill upon the merest funda- 
mentals and the motivation of such drill by its practical appli- 
cation and usefulness in concrete projects. Frequent excur- 
sions to industrial plants are recommended to secure the close 
connection of school work with industrial and vocational pro- 
cesses. Through such study, as well as through such limited 
use as could be made of the school shop and kitchen, pupils 
should be encouraged to initiate and work out individual pro- 
jects in line with their respective choices of vocations. The 
fact that this work is to be of practical usefulness in the near 
future, together with the opportunity to present the results 
of individual study to the group, should serve as a double in- 
centive to interest and effort and at the same time furnish 
opportunity for training in logical organization. It is possible 
that this type of work will so link up the school with practical 
every-day activity as to give rise to an interest sufficiently 
strong to persuade some of the pupils to remain in school after 
the compulsory period has passed. Further schooling, of course, 
should be encouraged, but it should be so planned as to have 
special bearing in the immediate problems and interests of the 
individual concerned. 

To the greater number of these pre-vocational pupils, how- 
ever, it will be important to give the broadest possible voca- 
tional perspective in the brief time at the school's disposal. 
The teacher should attempt to instill right mental attitudes 
toward work. She should act as vocational counsellor, and so 
far as time permits should carry on placement and follow-up 
work. Wherever possible, individuals who have left school and 
who are found to be poorly adjusted to their chosen hne of 
work should be encouraged to return to school for further 
directed study and subsequently a new start. 

The pre-vocational teacher should spend one or two sessions 
each week in learning at first hand the vocational opportuni- 
ties in the community and in discovering the adaptability of 
her pupils to them. She should occasionally visit with an 



Achievement of Immediate Objectives 111 

individual pupil or a small group both the home and the pro- 
spective industry in order that when the pupil leaves school 
the teacher may be satisfied that under the existing mental, 
physical and social conditions, the pupil is making the most 
advantageous choice of vocation. 

Flexible Grading 

Throughout the school the wide range of attainment within 
any one grade in both formal school subjects and intelligence 
tests (chapter IV) may be taken as indicating a general need for 
a finer grouping of pupils and for the provision of a flexibility 
that will permit individuals and small homogeneous groups of 
pupils to progress at rates suited to their capacities. Even 
in the earliest grades, in which none of the standard tests can be 
applied successfully, it is evident from the daily experience of 
teachers that many pupils are retained in classes long after it 
has become apparent either that they can no longer pursue the 
regular class work with profit, or that they could successfully 
pursue more advanced work, or work of a different character, 
if the opportunity were offered. 

In the attempt to meet this condition the principles of effi 
ciency suggest some such modification of the regular school 
procedure as are embodied in the following specific recom- 
mendations. In the first place, wherever there are two or 
more classes of the same grade, grouping should be based on 
careful study of the achievements and capacities of individual 
pupils as indicated by relative degree of attainment, general 
development and the results of scientific intelligence tests. 
Having thus secured a greater degree of homogeneity, each 
group should be encouraged to progress at the rate best suited 
to its past achievements and present powers of development. 
Thus by the end of a term one group will have advanced fur- 
ther than the others and may be well on in the work of the suc- 
ceeding grade, or may have accomplished more extensive and 
richer application of the work in hand. With the poorest 
grade groups it may be necessary to proceed so slowly as not 
to complete the work of the grade in the time set by the stand- 
ard course. However, if the work covered has been done thor- 
oughly the pupils will be better prepared for future advance- 
ment along lines of normal development. It is desirable there- 



112 School Adjustment 

fore that standard rates of progress be so modified as to con- 
form to the varying capacities of these homogeneous groups 
of pupils. After careful study, these rates should be definitely 
set and taken into account in determining both the content 
and method of the work to be done. 

Minimum Courses 

Furthermore, within each of the above-mentioned groups 
whose rates of progress in covering the same course will vary, 
it may be necessary to provide still further differentiation in 
the way of maximum and minimum courses. It will not be 
possible under the above scheme so to classify pupils as to have 
all do the same work in the same time with equal success. 
Within each group, pupils will fall into smaller sub-groups vary- 
ing in composition with the different subjects of instruction. 
It will be advisable, therefore, definitely to estabhsh certain 
minimum requirements in each subject which all pupils must 
meet, and to permit pupils to advance beyond these minima 
to the extent that their abilities and the time allotment make 
possible. The use of diagnostic tests in this connection will 
afford valuable information as to special method suited to 
these small groups as well as to ihe specific details of content 
requiring special drill. While the basic minimum requirements 
must be achieved by all pupils, there may well be established 
differentiated supplementary minima adjusted to the varying 
capacities of the different ability-groups. 

Specific Working Aims for Groups and Individuals 

The determination of such planes of minimum requirement 
leads us to a further recommendation: that for each grade 
and for each group of pupils within the grade there should be 
set up definite concrete standards of achievement. One of the 
most important consequences of the study of the results at- 
tained in standard tests (Chapter IV) is the evident wisdom of 
the establishment of definite goals, of specific working aims 
in each subject for each grade and for groups of individuals 
within each grade. An attempt to do this with the results of 
the Courtis Standard Tests in Arithmetic is reported by the 
author in another connection.* Similar attempts to establish 

* Mathematics Teacher, Apr., 1919 — Courtis Tests in Arithmetic. 



Achievement of Immediate Objectives 113 

detailed working aims in each subject are meeting with the 
success due to a scheme for encouraging in children a spirit of 
self-rivalry and the ambition to succeed in a definite piece of 
work for its own sake. 

The above plan is of general application to all grades and 
may be so administered as to encourage such adjustment of 
content and method to individual pupil capacity and need 
as to develop a healthy attitude of successful achievement. 
Besides eliminating much of the waste incident to large group 
instruction, there would result a live interest and an individual 
self-determination of large moral as well as intellectual worth. 
The evil effects of the adverse physical, social and moral con- 
ditions previously presented may thus be turned to good account 
if out of them and the habit of successful achievement devel- 
oped by the school, there will emerge an individual determina- 
tion to meet present difficulty with conscious striving toward 
a clearly visioned goal. 

Many of the efficiency principles outlined in the introductory 
chapters are conserved in the operation of the plan here sug- 
gested. Clear cut, definite working aims are provided for each 
group and indi"vidual. Standard attainments are definitely set 
up and understood alike by teacher and pupil. Time sched- 
ules, despatching and method are carefully adjusted to social 
and individual conditions, to varying rates of progress and to 
diverse capacities. The working aim of the school emphasizes 
individual self-realization. The successful operation of the 
efficiency principles indicated here will do much toAvard effect- 
ing that fine adjustment of content and method to peculiar 
individual needs which is demanded by the aim. 

Viewing the school as a whole in the light of its social envir- 
onment it is seen that there is urgent need for such individuali- 
zation as is represented in the best modern elementary school 
practice. The approach toward homogeneous grouping com- 
bined with the proper connection of school work with practical 
and present life problems, will awaken the motive force of 
active interest. While this is desirable for all educational work, 
it is of paramount importance in the situation presented here. 
If there is any truth in the statement, "The two greatest ob- 
stacles to be overcome by the (Negro) race are improvidence 



114 School Adjustment 

and immorality,"* then it is important for a school serving 
so large a negro population to face these conditions squarely. 
If the fundamental knowledge, habits and attitudes included 
in the aim of the school are to function effectively in society, 
pupils must 'live' in school, and the basic habits, attitudes 
and activities of the school must be identical with those of the 
worthy life in order to insure transfer and effective use in real 
life situations. To this end there should be a gradual elim- 
ination of didactic set-task teaching, and the development in 
pupils of initiative, proper organization of materials, responsi- 
bility for results and their applications. There should be de- 
veloped an effective method of attack on new problems, a clear 
conception of specific aims, a persistent linking of intellectual 
and manual activities, a conscious testing of these plans in 
practical experience with constant opportunity and persistent 
encouragement to use results in present school and home life. 

Selection and Emphasis to Meet Needs 

To accomplish these ends it may be necessary to minimize 
stress upon certain features of standard courses of study in 
order to allow ample time for thorough training in the funda- 
mental minimum essentials and their practical applications to 
life. Such changes in emphasis will vary with the different 
capacity-groups provided for above and may not rerriain con- 
stant for any one group for an entire term. It may be neces- 
sary in some groups for a time to minimize parts of history, 
geography and literature in order to insure proper mastery 
of fundamental arithmetic, English, health habits, vocational 
attitudes and interests. 

It may be necessary for a time to emphasize in literature, 
history, hygiene, physical training and civics certain features 
that will stress the development of particular moral qualities, 
as punctuality, responsibility, thrift, cleanliness or any of the 
specific qualities that make for good citizenship. It may be 
advisable to eliminate entirely for a certain 6th grade groups 
the study of the European background of American history in 
order to make definite and certain the development of proper 
attitudes towards hygiene, vocation and home-making. If it 

* Stone — Studies in the American Race Problems — p. 205. See also S. G. 
Noble "Forty Years of the Public Schools of Mississippi." p. 126. 



Achievement of Immediate Objectives 115 

is probable that such a group will not continue further in school, 
an intensive course in American history and citizenship is 
essential. 

It may be advisable to modify, extend and amplify the stand- 
ard courses in civics and history with a view to insuring the 
effective functioning in present life of the ideals of democratic 
citizenship. 

It may be desirable to emphasize certain phases of English 
to provide thorough training in the mechanics, in simple com- 
position, or in thought-getting, and to ally the latter not only 
with appreciation but also with methods of effective study in 
other subjects. 

In geography it would seem desirable that all pupils have the 
advantage in the first six grades of an elementary study of all 
the continents in order to provide at least a simple foundation 
for a world view to those who will leave school at the end of 
this period. In addition to this, the further advantage would 
be secured of devoting grades 7 and 8 to a more intensive study 
involving the relations of physical, commercial and political 
geography.* 

In general, conditions indicate the necessity for a minimum 
course that will permit concentration upon the essential funda- 
mentals and their concrete application to simple life situations. 
At the same time the school must offer opportunity for work 
in advance of these prescribed minima for pupils who can pur- 
sue it with profit. 

Grades 7 and 8 

Many of the above suggestions are applicable with even 
greater force to grades 7 and 8, wherein variations and indi- 
vidual differences become more pronounced. The underlying 
philosophy of the Junior High School movement rests in the 
attempt to meet the needs, capacities and interests of pupils 
of the early adolescent period and to provide proper differ- 
entiation of activities to foster the most effective development 
of individual powers. In view of the facts (1) that many 
pupils of grades 5 and 6 are further advanced in chronological 
and physiological age than the normal 7th and 8th grade pupil, 
and (2) that many of these pupils will leave school before or 

* See Teachers' Manual of Geography, Grades 7-8. Massachusetts Course 
of Study, 1918, No. 6, Page 6. 



116 School Adjustment 

soon after reaching the 7th grade, many of the principles under- 
lying the Junior High School development have been applied 
to pupils of these lower grades. This is in hne with the pro- 
posed classification of pupils on the basis of physiological and 
mental maturity,* and with the practice in some school sys- 
tems of advancing mature pupils to the Junior High School 
regardless of their successful completion of the work of grades 
5 and G.f 

In grades 7 and 8 of the Stanton School, there are seven 
classes comprising some three hundred pupils. Many of them 
are much over-age (Table XXII) and some have reached the 
level of their mental development.^ As has been indicated, 
a number of white pupils are newly admitted into the school 
in grade 7, and the excessive leaving of colored pupils early in 
the term causes pupil composition to show a higher percentage 
of whites in the upper grades. Great variation is exhibited 
in size, age, maturity and interests. Some attempt to meet 
the varying needs of these pupils has been made in providing 
manual training for boys and home economics for girls, and in 
departmentalizing regular instruction. However, with the ex- 
ception of the manual arts, the courses remain uniform. Under 
the present limitations of school plant and equipment it has 
seemed inadvisable and impractical to attempt any such ex- 
tensive variation in courses of instruction as is necessary to 
encourage the discovery and development of special individual 
abilities and capacities. The desirable reorganization of courses 
to provide constants in mathematics, English, science, history, 
physical education, and variables such as foreign languages, 
commercial subjects, pre-vocational courses, manual training,^ 
home economics would require increased expenditure for teach- 
ers, plant and equipment. 

Modifications in Standard Courses 

However, some general modifications are practicable. For 

example, in 7th grade arithmetic, the teaching of percentage 

and business forms may be vitahzed by contact with immediate 

social situations. This is primarily a matter of method and 

relative emphasis. Elementary bookkeeping, household budget- 

* Douglass, A. A. Jr. High School, p. 50. 

t Solvay, N. Y., School Report, 1914-15, p. 22. 

i Thorndike Tests, p. 60. 



Achievement of Immediate Objectives 117 

making, problems of thrift, insurance, taxation should receive 
due consideration. In grade 8, the present courses in algebra 
and mensuration should be merged into one general course in 
elementary mathematics comprising the fundamental concepts 
of arithmetic, algebra and geometry.* The course of study 
in geography should be so reorganized as not only to present 
clear concepts of man's relation to his environment but to 
afford instruction in elementary general sciencef and to bring 
the pupil into actual contact with his physical and social en- 
vironment. History should be made to bear constantly on 
present social problems, particularly those of vital importance 
to the immediate community. This will be especially true of 
the work in civics and hygiene. It is the actual doing of the 
things suggested by such study, the actual working out of worth- 
while projects, that insures the formation of desirable habits 
and ideals. So also in English there should be developed an 
increasingly large number of opportunities for oral and written 
expression with a social purpose. To this end, the assembly 
period, the debate, the school paper, the printing press, the 
letter with a real purpose, should be used to fullest possible 
advantage. Special effort should be made to insure proper 
reading habits both as to the technique of silent reading and 
thought-getting and also to selection and taste in literature. 
Such adjustments as these will do much to vitahze the work 
of these grades without entailing changes in organization, plant 
a.nd equipment such as would be impossible under the present 
conditions. 

Pre-vocational Training 
Throughout all the work and for all pupils emphasis should 
be placed on pre-vocational training. "Vocational service — 
both guidance and training are here included — is an instru- 
ment for talent-saving, and for interpreting school life in terms 
of career building. In its larger relationships, however, voca- 
tional service is only one phase of the social organization of 
school and vocation. It introduces into education the motive 
of the life career and the idea of fitness of the individual, apart 
from class or group; it introduces into employment the idea 

* Minnick, J. H., Junior High School Mathematics, Current Education, 
March, 1918, p. 67. 

t Garman, J., Current Education, February, 1920. Science in the Junior 
High School. 



118 School Adjustment 

of fitness of the task, and appraises the occupations in terms 
of career values as well as social worth,"* 

"In Supt. Spaulding's view, vocational guidance should for- 
mulate for' itself the problem of the moral effect of the school 
on the child; it must see that the individual learns to appreci- 
ate his own capacities and possibilities; that he informs himself 
concerning the opportunities for worthy service that the world 
offers; that he prepares himself as adequately as time and 
conditions permit to apply his powers to the rendering of the 
highest service of which he is, or may become capable, and that 
he learns to concentrate his thought, his energy and ambition, 
to this end of large and worthy service "f 

This ideal of worthy social service should permeate the entire 
work of the school. Concrete courses of instruction in the use 
of tools and the specific industrial processes cannot be offered 
under the existing conditions and their practical usefulness in 
these grades is doubtful. But much can be accomplished by 
closely relating all school activity to immediate environmental 
conditions in industry and out. In addition, it may be desir- 
able definitely to plan certain work in connection with civics, 
geography, hygiene or some other subject with the aim of 
considering the requirements, opportunities and possibilities for 
service in given occupations. In this connection, visits to in- 
dustrial plants, and illustrated talks on industrial processes 
will arouse sufficient interest to motivate individual pupil pro- 
jects which may be worked out with profit. 

The following statement from Booker Washington was made 
with reference to his own people though the apphcation of the 
principle involved is general: "Our greatest danger is that 
we may overlook the fact that the masses of us are to live by 
the productions of our hands, and fail to keep in mind that we 
shall prosper in proportion as we learn to dignify and glorify 
common labor and put brains and skill into the common occu- 
pations of life. "I It is in the elementary school period that 
such ideals should be implanted and this can be accomplished 
with greatest effect through actual contact with typical occu- 
pations and industrial processes. An additional gain secured 

* Bloomfield, M., "The School and the Start in Life. " Page 130. 
t Ryan, W. C. Jr., "Vocational Guidance and the Public Schools." Page 
11. 

$ Washington, B. T., Up From Slavery, p. 220. 



Achievement of Immediate Objectives 119 

by such 'practical' activity is the stimulation it affords to 
purposeful work in related academic subjects. 

Individual Pupil Rosters 

The extent to which individualization of instruction can be 
made effective in these grades will depend largely upon the 
energy and social viewpoint of the teacher and her ability to 
gather significant data on the individual status, needs and 
interests of each pupil and to adjust his work accordingly. 
This will require a close sympathetic understanding of his life 
both in and out of school as well as scientific testing and diag- 
nosis. The individual treatment of these cases may be aided 
by modification in the organization of the school to provide 
for promotion by subject and for individual pupil rosters in 
cases of greatest variation. The departmental organization of 
grades 7 and 8 lends itself to such adjustments and makes less 
necessary the organization of special ungraded classes. Indi- 
vidual pupils can take certain subjects with the grade below 
or the grade above where this is desirable. Further, the teacher- 
specialization incident to departmental organization encourages 
the development of a scientific attitude toward the subject, 
and the desire and ability so to present it as to arouse the in- 
terest and meet the needs of individual pupils. 

Health 

In view of the extent of absence in the school and of the 
prevalent condition of ill health due to carelessness or ignor- 
ance of the laws of hygiene and healthy living, and because 
of the poorly lighted and ventilated classrooms of the Stanton 
building, it is important that programs make ample provision 
not only for recreation and health instruction but also for the 
inculcation of proper health habits. There is a lack of pro- 
vision for recreation and play in the present school building and 
grounds, but this difficulty may be overcome in some measure 
through the regular use of facilities provided elseAvhere in the 
immediate vicinity of the school. The McCoach playground, 
one-half block distant from the Stanton building, offers excel- 
lent opportunity for physical training, outdoor games, and the 
achievement of age-aims set up by the course of study in 
physical training. It is unfortunate that this playground does 



120 School Adjustment 

not afford shelter so that it might be used in inclement weather. 
However, it should be possible to arrange with the neighboring 
Y. M. C. A. for the use of its gymnasium during the morning 
hours. 

Thoeoughness and Success 
Such modifications as have been indicated above by way of 
adjusting school activities to varying capacities, interests, and 
rates of progress will have a wholesome effect upon the general 
morale and spirit of the school. This result will be height- 
ened by conscious effort to establish definite connection of school 
work with the immediate environment in home and community. 
Preparation for future usefulness will be measured in terms of 
present usefulness. Every course of instruction will have as 
its immediate aim the doing of some concrete thing whose re- 
lation to present social life will be clearly discerned. Thus 
drill work on fundamental knowledge and habits will be suffi- 
ciently stressed, properly motivated and made to serve definite 
ends clearly understood by every pupil. Such a procedure 
will have important moral as well as intellectual results. For 
a people often characterized as "shiftless" it is of prime im- 
portance to fix habits of thoroughness in tasks attempted and 
to test their effectiveness by practical use. 

Community Contacts 
This development of practical morality, together with the 
interest resulting from work directed toward a constructive 
purpose within the powers of the individual, will have important 
effect in improving regularity and punctuality of attendance. 
It is necessary, however, to meet all laxity in these matters 
with prompt, decisive and constructive measures. To this end 
it is advisable that close contact with the home be estabhshed. 
Parents' meetings succeed very well in securing this contact, 
but too often the influence of such meetings is limited to those 
parents who are already willing and anxious to cooperate with 
the school. For parents whose interest is small, or in some 
cases even negative, it is important that the sympathetic influ- 
ence of the school be carried into the home. To depend for 
such influence upon the hurried visits of an overworked attend- 
ance officer whose sole interest is in attendance and who all 
too frequently threatens prosecution, is often to aggravate the 



Achievement of Immediate Objectives 121 

difficulty. What is needed in these cases is the friendly visit 
of an agent of the school who possesses a broad social view- 
point and who will outline the aims of the school and the im- 
portance of the full cooperation of the home. Through the 
cooperation of the Armstrong Association of Philadelphia, this 
school has had the part-time services of a trained social worker. 
The success of the limited work of this home-and-school visitor 
points to the advisability of its extension, though this would 
involve additional expense and for this reason the recommen- 
dation for the employment of a visiting teacher is withheld 
for the present. If the important work of insuring the transfer 
of school ideals to the home is to be accomplished with any 
large degree of success, it must be brought about by the teacher 
herself after school hours through the self-sacrificing expendi- 
ture of time and energy. 

Community Co operation 

The combined efforts of the school physician, nurse, attend- 
ance officer, home-and-school visitor, together with the sym- 
pathetic interest of teachers and the cooperation of the Parents' 
Association, Board of Health, Department of Public Welfare, 
Bureau of Recreation, Philadelphia Housing Association, Arm- 
strong Association, White-Williams Foundation for Girls, Com- 
munity Service, Community Churches, Y. M. C. A. and other 
local social, civic and charitable organizations will make pos- 
sible the development of helpful neighborliness and common 
purpose. The fact of the initiation of such a comprehen-jive 
and constructive community program by the school will tend 
to center the life of the community in that institution. Thus 
will the influence of the school be strengthened with both pupils 
and parents as well as with the neighborhood at large. Such 
unity of purpose and cooperation of all the forces in the com- 
munity toward a common end cannot fail to foster further ad- 
justments of the school to immediate community needs. 

Summary 

On a basis then of the limiting conditions accepted as stand- 
ard, the working aims of the school are set as high and as wide 
as possible and are achieved through the proper adjustment of 
equipment, personnel, courses of study, programs, despatch- 



122 School Adjustment 

ing and general organization. Definitized immediate objectives 
are set up for individual pupils as a result of careful analysis 
of the conditions surrounding each case. These specific aims 
are achieved through general and special modifications in the 
work of the school. Thus by the introduction of various types 
of special ungraded classes, by permitting varying rates of 
progress, by selection and emphasis in courses of study, by 
determination of differentiated minima and by affording oppor- 
tunity for pre-vocational work, a flexibility is developed in the 
organization, and the adjustment of the school to varying indi- 
vidual capacities and needs is facilitated. 



CHAPTER VII 

REORGANIZATION ON THE BASIS OF IMPROVED 
STANDARD CONDITIONS 

The -adjustments indicated in the previous chapter, it will be 
remembered, have been recommended on a basis of existing 
standard conditions as to plant, equipment, personnel and 
fundamental organization. These conditions have been seen 
to limit the fullest realization of the aim of the school in each 
individual. If it were possible, then, to bring about desired 
improvements in the conditions surrounding the organization 
and operations of the school, many of the modifications cited 
above might be carried to fruition with greater effect and some 
further departures in line with the principles of efficiency might 
be inaugurated. To this end it will be necessary to outline 
in greater detail, as far as is practicable, the chief condition 
limiting the present operation of the school, i. e., financial. 

Current Expenses for Stanton-Arthur School 

It is impossible to arrive at an exact determination of the 
expenses and other payments for a particular school in a large 
city system, because of the fact that certain important items of 
expense are general in their nature. However, if these items 
are apportioned on the basis of the number of pupils in average 
daily attendance, they will yield an approximation sufiiciently 
accurate for our purpose (see p. 126, Table XXXVIII). For 
example, under expenses of general control, the total of $383,973 
expended during the year 1918 divided by the total number of 
pupils in average attendance in the schools of the city (192,195), 
gives an approximate expenditure of $2.00 per pupil per year 
for this purpose, or $2400 for the school. Wherever this pro- 
cedure is necessary in order to determine the allotment of ex- 
penditure to the particular school in question, the fact has 
been indicated in the accompanying tabular statement. Exami- 
nation of certain items of expenditure shows their inadequacy 
for securing highest efficiency in the work of the school. It 
will be noted that the expense for the twenty-nine regular 
classes of the school aggregate only $29,672, a sum sufficient to 

123 



124 School Adjustment 

provide an average teacher's salary of less than $1,000, since 
the cost of supplies is included in the item mentioned. It will 
be noted that the cost of sewing instruction amounts to only 
$407, due to the fact that a teacher was employed only five 
months of the term and that no instruction in sewing was offered 
during the remaining five months. The expenses for instruc- 
tion in handwork covered only the cost of materials, since 
this instruction is given by regular class teachers. The total 
for current expenses for the year ($48,386.86) is approximately 
$4,000 in excess of the sum arrived at by multiplying the cost 
per pupil in elementary schools of the city ($37.05)* by the 
average attendance in the Stanton- Arthur School. This excess 
is explained partly by the fact that the school has a large pro- 
portion of grammar grades, for which the cost of supplies and 
teaching is greater than in primary grades. 

School Budget 

To the right of the distribution of expenses for 1918 is given 
a proposed budget of expenditure for 1921. It will be noted 
that all items are materially increased, and that in the aggre- 
gate, the recommended expenditure of $96,650 is 100% in ex- 
cess of the expenses for 1918. Such increases might appear 
unwarranted, were it not for the fact that the budget must 
consider the general rise in price of all commodities, a com- 
mensurate rise in teachers' salaries, certain necessary additions 
to the teaching and supervisory force of the school, and cer- 
tain increases due to the maintenance and operation of the 
proposed new school plant. This increase in annual expendi- 
ture, while double the 50% increase recommended on a basis 
of the comparative study of expenditure in Philadelphia and 
other cities (p. 37) is seen to be small when compared with 
constantly increasing costs. 

Physical Conditions 

Although the present Arthur building is inadequate in many 
ways, it is recommended that this building be continued in use as 
at present, since it does not seem practicable to introduce on any 
extensive scale, facilities for special activity. The eight classes 
of grades one to three, the two kindergartens, and the class for 

* Report of Board of Education— 1918, p. 208. 



Reorganization 125 

mental defectives can be assigned each to a separate room 
and the programs of the four classes of grades 4 and 5 and 
the one special class for extreme over-age pupils, can be so 
arranged that these pupils may participate to a limited degree, 
in the manual arts and auditorium activities to be afforded in 
the proposed new Stanton building. All classes may avail 
themselves of the opportunity for outdoor games afforded by 
the McCoach Recreation grounds, two blocks distant from 
the school. 

However, there are certain improvements that should be 
immediately effected in the Arthur building. These have been 
provided for in the budget covering outlays for the coming 
year. Since the school yard affords less than ten square feet of 
space per child in average attendance, it is important that 
yard space be increased. This would require the purchase and 
razing of two adjoining houses, at an approximate cost of $20,- 
000. This sum is included in the $50,000 item for land out- 
lays. 

Certain alterations are necessary in order to make the plant 
safe and sanitary. The wooden stair treads in the fire escape 
should be replaced by fire-proof materials; hallways should be 
adequately lighted, and the present unsanitary and inadequate 
toilet facihties entirely removed and replaced. These altera- 
tions would require approximately $10,000. 

Additional equipment to the Arthur building, especially for 
the special ungraded classes and to provide movable furniture 
for at least the first-grade rooms, would require an additional 
$1000. 

Stanton Building 

Although erected seventy years ago, the walls of the Stanton 
building are still in good condition, but any rearrangement of 
the rooms to provide necessary hall space, wardrobes, proper 
light and ventilation, requires that only twelve rooms be pro- 
vided. Such remodeling of the building would require the erec- 
tion of additional rooms for either regular or special activities. 
It would appear desirable, therefore, that the Stanton building 
be remodeled as indicated, and that the necessary additional 
space be provided in ^the form of facilities for special activity. 
The cost of such remodeUng and additions, however, is so 



Table XXXVIII 

Disbursements — Year ending December 31, 1918 Proposed Budget- 

Stanton- Arthur School 1921 



I. Expenses (cost of conducting the school) : 

a. Expenses of General Control (Overhead 

Charges)* $2,400.00 

b. Expenses of Instruction by Activities: 
1. Salaries of Supervisors of Grades 

and Sub.* S 420.00 


$3,000.00 
$ 550.00 


2. Office 3,666.83 

3. Regular classes (29) 29,672.48 


7,500.00 
60,000.00 


4 Kindergarten (2) 1,635.51 


2,300.00 


5. Sewing (5 months only) 407.23 

6. Handwork (supplies only) 68.77 

7 Special classes (2) 2,434.23 


1,800.00 
1,800.00 
8,000.00 






Total 38,305.05 


81,950.00 


c. Expenses of Operation — School Plant: 

1. Fuel* 1,900.00 

2. Janitors' Salary and Supplies. ... 2,885.19 


3,500.00 
4,000.00 


Total 4,785.19 


7,500.00 


d. Expenses of Maintenance — School Plant: 
1. Repair of Buildings 95.93 


200.00 


2. Repairs and Replacement of 

Equipment 620.69 


1,000.00 


3. Insurance* 500.00 

4. Other Expenses of Maintenance*. 60.00 


600.00 
100.00 


Total 1,276.62 


1,900.00 


e. Expenses of Auxiliary Agencies: 

1. Promotion of Health 1,200.00 


1,800.00 


Total 1,200.00 


1,800.00 


f. Miscellaneous Expenses 420.00 


500.00 


Total 420.00 


50o.oa 






Total Expenses $48,386.86 


$96,650.0a 


II. Outlays (Capital acquisition and construction): 
a. Land 


$50,000.00 


b. New building 


350,000.00 


c. Alterations to Old Building (Arthur) 


10,000.00 


d. Equipment of New Building and Ground 


25,000.00 


e. Equipment of Old Building (exclusive of replacements) 
Total 


1,000.00 

436,000.00 


III. Other Payments: 

a. Temporary loan and interests 

b. Debt and interest on debt under 

School Code, May 18, 1911 

c. Payments to School District Sinking 

Fund 




d. Payments of interest on debt cre- 

ated since May 18, 1911 

e. Miscellaneous payments including 

payments to trust funds 








Total* 20,800.00 


25,ooo.oa 






Grand Total $69,186.86 


$557,650.00 







* The distribution of these items and the allotment of the stated sums to the ex- 
pense account of the Stan ton- Arthur School is based on average attendance. 



Reorganization 



127 



great as to suggest the advisability of replacing the Stanton 
building by an entirely new and modern school plant. As 
indicated in the accompanying Table (XXXIX), this plant 
should include eleven regular classrooms, two ungraded class- 
rooms, and ten other rooms to provide for the various forms of 
special activity. The precise determination of building plans 
is contingent upon the aim of the school and the curriculum and 
organization determined upon to effect that aim. Consequently,, 
the need of a building with facilities as outlined can be appreci- 
ated only in the light of the ideal aim of the school, the actiW- 
ties through which this aim is to be reahzed, and the type of 
organization through which such realization can be most effi- 
ciently and economically brought about. 

Table XXXIX 

Outline of School Plant, Activities, Class Organization and Teaching Force 

Arthur Building 

Rooms Activity Classes Teachers 

12 Regular instruction 12 11 

2 Special Classes 2 2 

1 Kindergarten 2 2 



15 



16 



15 



Proposed New Stanton Building 



looms 


Activity 


Classes 


Teachers 


3 


Grades 1, 2, 3 


3 


3 


8 


Regular instruction 


8 


lit 


2 


Opportunity Classes 


2 


2 




Music 


1 


1 




Drawing 


1 


1 




Play 


2 


2 




Auditorium 


2 






Cooking-household Arts 


^ 


1 




Manual Training 


Yi 


1 




Boys' Vocational 


^ 


1 




Girls' Vocational 


^ 


1 




Sewing 


K 


1 




Manual Arts 


Yt. 


1 




Lunch* 






24 




22 


26 


' otal 
39 




38 


41 



* Lunch room managed by teacher of cooking with aid of pupils, 
t Includes auditorium assignments. 

In any event, a modern school building should meet stand- 
ards of safety, health, education, economy and happiness. The 
safety and health of school children is a public trust. The 



128 School Adjustment 

building must be erected to meet the varying needs of children, 
as well as the insistent demands of modern society. It should 
provide for play as a necessary activity of growth, and should 
contemplate the health and happiness of the community as 
well as the child. Finally, economy in construction should be 
judged by costs in relation to ultimate return. 

A building providing the facilities outlined in Table XXXIX, 
and containing eleven regular classrooms, two ungraded rooms 
and ten rooms for special activity, would cost approximately 
$350,000. 

Such a building would require additional ground space which 
can be secured only through the purchase of adjoining houses. 
For this purpose there has been included in the budget the 
sum of $30,000. 

The modern equipment of the building including auditorium, 
play room, manual arts rooms, laboratories, music room, etc., 
would require approximately $25,000. 

Curriculum 

It has been seen that in order to effect the fullest possible 
realization of the ideal aim of the school, it is necessary to offer 
an enriched curriculum. The desirability and importance of 
affording a diversity of educational opportunity to meet vary- 
ing individual needs has been indicated repeatedly in the fore- 
going discussion. The school should not only supply facilities 
for study in well-appointed classrooms under wholesome con- 
ditions, but it must afford to all children the opportunity for 
the healthful work and play which the home is no longer able to 
supply. Good workmanship, resourcefulness in solving prac- 
tical problems, and the ability to create useful things should be 
developed. Besides this development of mechanical ability and 
initiative, the school should foster a wholesome social life, and, 
through play and recreation, a happy optimistic outlook based 
upon ample reserve of vital energy. Proper emphasis on health, 
socialized activity of every sort, the practical usefulness of 
every item of knowledge or skill and its concrete application, 
will secure important physical, mental, social and moral gains. 
Successful cooperative achievement will characterize the work 
of the school and it will not be long before the influence of its 
ideals will be felt in the community. 



Reorganization 129 

The curriculum of grades one to six should retain much of its 
emphasis on the inculcation of fundamental habits and atti- 
tudes, though with added stress on the application of all of these 
to concrete life situations. The first half of this period covers 
the stage of preparation for serious school work. Here the 
pupil is introduced to the tools of learning — reading, writing, 
number, oral English, music, drawing and simple handwork. 

In grades four to six it is important to continue the work in 
the fundamental tool subjects, though relatively more time 
should be devoted here to the basic subjects of richer content. 
In the early grades of this period, the study of biography should 
afford a fitting approach to the later and more systematic study 
of history. The study of civics should develop a keen apprecia- 
tion of the place of each pupil as an individual in the com- 
munity, beginning with the class community, and extending 
out to the city, and finally the nation. By the end of this 
period, the pupils should have made an elementary survey of 
the world and its people, and should have some appreciation of 
the inter-dependence of man and of his relations with the phys- 
ical environment. A body of health information, the estab- 
lishment of health habits and training in physical education 
and play should lay the foundation for sound vitality. In 
addition, attention should be directed to the wise employment 
of leisure, through instruction in music, art and literature, as 
well as through the varied activities made possible by the use 
of a well-appointed auditorium. Further than this, and es- 
pecially in view of the fact that so many pupils of these grades 
are of relatively advanced age, it is important that practical 
activities connected with home economics and manual training 
be afforded. Instruction in drawing, manual arts, manual train- 
ing, and in special cases, pre-vocational work, should afford to 
boys a familiarity with the common tools and some readiness 
in their use, together with a consideration of the various indus- 
tries, their demands and opportunities. Instruction in sewing, 
cooking, and in special cases, pre-vocational work, should af- 
ford to girls the abihty to do plain sewing, through the making 
of useful articles, practice in the cooking of simple, wholesome 
foods and in habits of neatness in the care of the home. Through- 
out the work of these grades, the primary aim should be the 
acquisition of a learning technique, and the formation of cor- 



130 School Adjustment 

rect habits through repetition and drill. However, the develop- 
ment oF proper attitudes, and the important moral significance 
of a close connection and interrelation of school with life ac- 
tivities must not be disregarded. 

In grades seven and eight, it is important to recognize the 
stage of physiological maturity of the pupils, and to adjust 
courses and method to individual differences, which assert 
themsehes in the adolescent period. Here should be made a 
brief survey of the departments of human knowledge repre- 
sented in general courses in literature, mathematics, history and 
science. The demands of this period for change, variety and 
human interest, rather than for completeness and logical ar- 
rangement, should be recognized, and an opportunity given for 
the determination of individual aptitudes and interests. The 
work of these grades should furnish educational guidance of 
such a nature as to insure thorough mastery of certain minimum 
essentials and at the same time to open up the broader fields of 
human knowledge and experience and to give pre -vocational 
training followed by placement and follow-up work where this 
is made necessary by early withdrawal from school. The 
social environment of these grades should develop actual situa- 
tions calling for actual responses from the pupils who then 
truly would learn to do by doing now. The school, therefore, 
should offer a course of study featuring certain constant subjects 
as English, mathematics, science, history, civics and physical 
education to be taken by all pupils, and should permit advised 
selection from a limited number of variable courses. 

The constants are determined largely by the general course 
of study provided for the entire school system, though this 
does not preclude the possibility of varied emphasis on a basis 
of community and individual needs. It is important that these 
basic courses be related to the practical and socialized activities 
of the shops, kitchen, auditorium and play room, that the 
fundamental concepts may be made definite and sure. It is 
important, further, at least in grade seven, that the variable 
<!Ourses be so arranged that easy transfer may be effected from 
one course to another without great loss of time or continuity 
of the work of the individual pupil concerned. Throughout 
these grades the time spent in elective work, while ample to 
give practical and usable returns, should not be so great as to 



Reorganization 131 

encroach upon the time necessary to the successful teaching 
of the fundamental or constant subjects, or to preclude the 
possibihty of future specialization. Pupils completing any one 
of the elective courses (except the vocational) must not find 
their opportunities restricted in any way on entering high 
school work or on their transfer to any other school of the city 
system. Such considerations have had their effect on the 
arrangement of the program of the school which provides in 
every course at least four daily periods in the fundamental 
subjects. 

In conjunction with these constant subjects, it i? desirable 
to offer elective courses suited to the needs and interests of 
varying individuals. These will fall into four main groups: 

(1) Special academic subjects — word study, foreign language, 
general history and literature. 

(2) Commercial subjects — bookkeeping, spelling, commercial 
arithmetic, geography and penmanship. 

(3) a. Practical arts for boys — shopwork, shop arithmetic 

and mechanical drawing, 
b. Household arts for girls — cooking, sewing, home dec- 
oration and design. 

(4) Courses providing specific vocational instruction to small, 
selected groups of boys and girls about to leave school. 

The fourth of these courses has no place in a theoretic arrange- 
ment of instruction materials for the grades concerned. It is 
suggested here solely as a means of holding under the influ- 
ence of the school, pupils who otherwise would leave the school 
at the beginning of the seventh grade. It may be possible 
in a Hmited number of cases to hold such pupils in school for 
a time by offering instruction in specific vocational processes. 
In every case, however, these courses would have a background 
in related academic work. Thus would be secured to these 
pupils not only a broader conception of industrial opportunities, 
but a more complete foundation on which to base future speciali- 
jzation. The specific courses could be arranged in short ten- 
week units to secure intensive work and also to insure the 
attendance of each pupil until the completion of the course. 
For girls, a short course in practical home -making might in- 
clude dietetics, marketing, cooking, cleaning, home accounts, 
kitchen economy. Another course following this could empha- 



132 School Adjustment 

size practical home decoration, sanitation, the care of children. 
A third course might comprise textiles, garment-making, ma- 
chine sewing, millinery or design. For boys, corresponding 
courses in the mechanic arts might afford intensive preliminary 
training in printing, shop practice, automobile repair, carpentry 
and janitorial work. 

Organization 

Efficiency and economy demand that school costs be kept as 
low as possible to secure the greatest ultimate return in com- 
plete hving and well-rounded citizenship. Social conditions 
demand that the school train the hand as well as the head, that 
it introduce sociahzed activities, that it develop sound, healthy 
bodies, that it encourage a spirit of scientific experiment, and 
that it provide facilities for practical application. To offer 
all these types of education requires specially equipped rooms 
for the so-called special subjects and activities in addition to 
regular classrooms. Since it is manifestly wasteful to provide 
rooms and equipment for a variety of specialized activities 
when such facilities are to be used only a small part of the day, 
it is necessary to make a corresponding reduction in the num- 
ber of regular classrooms and to keep all facilities in use through- 
out the entire school day. The platoon or duplicate school 
plan has passed the stage of experiment, and has proven its 
worth as a means of broadening and enriching the content of 
the curriculum, of ensuring the essential connection of school 
work with life activities, and of securing economy through the 
multiple use of all facilities. 

Arthur School 

Considering the separation of the StantonArthur School into 
two buildings, and the fact that a large part of the Arthur 
building is occupied by pupils of grades one to three, it does 
not seem advisable to introduce the duplicate plan into the 
Arthur building. The eight classes of grades one to three, 
the two kindergartens and the orthogenic backward class 
should be assigned each to a separate room, as at present, 
thus occupying ten of the fifteen classrooms. Pupils in the 
regular classes of these grades would be grouped according to 
ability, ana permitted to advance at rates suited to their de- 



Reorganization 133 

veloping capacities. Finer division of each class group into 
two or three sub-groups would permit still closer adjustment 
of the work to individual needs. Finally, the allotment of a 
given period on the daily program to be devoted to Individual 
instruction would insure effective work on the part of those 
pupils who had not developed sufficiently different needs to 
warrant their placement in one of the three special ungraded 
classes (one in Stanton building). 

The use of small tables and chairs in first grade classes will 
permit the introduction of kindergarten methods to the extent 
that this is desirable. Dramatization, games and socialized 
activities of every sort conducive to the freedom necessary for 
spontaneity will relieve the present stilted formality of many 
first-grade activities. Movable furniture will also encourage 
the formation of small, homogeneous groups w^ithin the class 
for cooperative work, as well as for instruction suited to indi- 
vidual needs. 

The four classes of grades four and five accommodated in this 
building can be assigned for two sessions each week to the 
Stanton building for special activities, including manual train- 
ing, domestic arts, auditorium and play. By similar arrange- 
ment, the pupils of the ungraded adjustment class may spend 
two sessions in the Stanton building. Thus, at the Arthur 
School, there would be relieved one teacher who might devote 
her entire time to individual instruction, to social work, or 
who might be assigned to the Stanton building. 

Stanton School 

Because the Stanton is the only school within a 
large radius that accommodates white pupils as well as 
colored, it is necessary to pro\ide one class each of grades 
one to three, and thus in a measure to parallel the work of the 
Arthur School. These three classes would each occupy a sep- 
arate room, though they would have occasional assignments 
for such special activities as auditorium and play. This is 
also true of the ungraded opportunity class for grades one to 
three. The programs for these classes as well as all others in 
the Stanton building may be seen in Table XL. The desir- 
ability of offering an enriched and diversified curriculum, of 
retaining children longer each day under the direct influence 



134 



School Adjustment 





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Reorganization 



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136 School Adjustment 

of the school, and of providing wholesome luncheons, suggests 
an extension of the school day. The Stanton School is there- 
fore organized on a nine-period (45-minute) day, comprised 
in general of four periods of academic work, two periods of 
manual arts, one auditorium, one play and one lunch period. 
This longer school day is realized with only a fifteen-minute 
extension of the present day, by retaining pupils over the lunch 
period, thus avoiding a long unsupervised recess in which chil- 
dren must walk, many of them long distances, to homes from 
which parents are absent at work. 

Table XL gives the general plan of activities, showing utiliza- 
tion of plant as well as the assignments of pupils and teachers. 
It is hoped that this table with its accompanying nbtes will 
be self-explanatory.* However, certain important advantages 
of the scheme of organization do not appear in the table. Where 
there are two or three teachers in a given subject, the program 
may be so organized as to have instruction in the same sub- 
ject given to classes of succeeding grades at the same period 
though in different rooms. It will then be possible, in a given 
subject, for any pupil to take work with a class above or below 
his general grade standard. Thus the advantages of individual 
roster, special pupil assignments, promotion by subject and 
flexible grading may be secured to the end of adjusting the 
work of the school to individual needs. 

The larger adjustments are provided for in the ungraded and 
special classes indicated in the outline of the work of the school 
(Table XL). 

It will be noted that the facilities proposed for the new Stan- 
ton building have been determined by the curriculum and 
types of activity to be offered and by the form of organization 
of the school. 

Supervision 

A school organization which seeks to make teaching vital 
must develop rather than direct its teachers. Only by sugges- 
tion, inspiration, the fixing of ideals and standards, can re- 
sponsibility be exacted in terms of real capacities developed in 
the children. The careful study of individual pupils, the diag- 

* For details of program construction from such data, see " Organization 
of Classes in Holmes Junior High School" — Sondberg, D., Current Education 
—June, 1919. 



Reorganization 137 

nosis of defects and the determination of causes and remedies 
can be brought about only through detailed, sympathetic super- 
vision. It is impossible for this type of professional stimulation 
and guidance to be afforded in so large and diversified a school 
organization by one supervisory officer whose major attention 
must of necessity be directed to administrative duties. Con- 
sequently, in order to insure an upbuilding constructive organi- 
zation, it is recommended that the school principal be pro- 
vided with an assistant whose entire time shall be devoted to 
the professional supervision of grades one to six. Thus would 
be reserved to the school principal, in addition to his adminis- 
trative duties, the special province of the professional super- 
vision of the higher grades. Provision is made in the budget 
for the salary of this assistant supervisor. 

Personnel 

The suggested organization of the school as indicated in 
Table XL would require forty-one teachers, two for kinder- 
gartens, twenty-five for regular classes, four for special classes, 
^nd ten for special subjects and activities, including music, 
drawing, manual and household arts, auditorium and play. 
This total represents an increase of six over the present num- 
ber of teachers,* due to the addition of two special ungraded 
■classes and the introduction of a vocational class and a wide 
range of special activities in which a separate teacher is required 
for each half of a gi^en regular class. 

As to the race of the teachers, it seems wise that the present 
arrangement be continued. Because of the large proportion of 
negro pupils in the school, the entire Arthur building may be 
devoted to them in grades 1 to 5. Here negro teachers should 
be employed. In the Stanton building there will then be about 
an equal proportion of white and negro pupils. Here white 
teachers should be retained not solely because of the presence 
of white pupils, but for the more important reason that, since 
negroes must live and work with white people, "they should 
have the benefit of instruction from representatives of the white 
group at some point in their school life."* 

* See Table XI, P. 44, 34 teachers and 1 sewing teacher. 

* Negro Education— U. S. Bureau of Education— Bulletin 1916, No. 38, 
p. 4. 



138 School Adjustment 

It will be noted in the budget for 1921 that provision has 
been made not only for salaries and supplies for the additional 
teachers and activities, but also for a material increase in the sal- 
aries of all teachers. Of first importance in increasing the efficien- 
cy of the school is this provision for increased financial reward 
in order to secure not only the highest type of teaching ability, 
but also the broadest, most sympathetic insight into the pe- 
culiar problems of individual pupils, their homes and their 
community surroundings. Teachers for the school should be 
selected with these ideals in mind and only those who have 
some understanding of the peculiar problems of the school and 
who show a desire to enter whole-heartedly into the work should 
be admitted to the teaching corps. Carefully selected teachers, 
securing increased remuneration for their special efficiencies, 
could be retained in the service and encouraged to progress 
with their problems by an additional efficiency reward for 
eminent success. Thus there would be secured to the school 
a corps of efficient teachers with a thorough understanding 
and appreciation of the fundamental aims of the school and 
the part played by each school activity in the realization of 
these aims. There would result a scientific spirit of investiga- 
tion, a desire to experiment with new procedures to the end 
of securing continuous improvement, and an esprit de corps 
such as can only be fully developed on principles of fair deal 
and efficiency reward. 

A Community School 

With the plant, organization, curriculum and personnel out- 
lined above, the school could not fail to radiate its influence 
out into the community. But in order to insure the fullest 
functioning of the school it is important that constructive 
effort be employed to encourage full community cooperation 
and understanding. 

In view of the nature of the problem of attendance in the 
school and because of the need of direct contact with indi- 
vidual homes, it is recommended that the compulsory attend- 
ance officer who serves this school as only part of a much larger 
field of work, be replaced by a visiting teacher who could devote 
her entire time to individual work on the problem of school 
and community relationship. It is desirable that this officer 



Reorganization 139 

possess the highest quaUfications as both teacher and social 
worker, and that she be in entire sympathy with the general 
problem presented. Her specific duties would include investi- 
gation and elimination of unnecessary non-attendance, im- 
provement of sanitary and general health conditions in homes 
and community, detailed follow-up work on the recommenda- 
tions of the school physician and nurse as to the correction of 
physical defects, and the wise placement of pupils leaving school 
for work. She would act as intermediary between the com- 
munity and the school, carrying the ideals of the school directly 
to the community, and fostering a constructive cooperation of 
social and civic organizations, as well as keeping the school in 
close touch with the currents of life in the community. 

Having changed the kind of experiences that are given and 
individualized the school to the point of approaching a solution 
of community problems, the school must be given over to the 
people. It is false economy to restrict the use of a modern 
building to children for only twenty-five or thirty hours a week 
for ten months in a year. The new Stanton building should 
be so planned that auditorium, cooking, sewing, manual arts, 
music and playrooms are in the first floor and basement for 
easy access and use by the community in the evenings. Oppor- 
tunities should be afforded for evening instruction as well as 
for recreation, play and social and civic gatherings. Further- 
more, children need direction and guidance during the summer 
months as well as at other times in the year, and this should 
be provided in a so-called 'Vacation' school. 

The modern school in the fullness of its functioning has been 
variously termed 'Vitahzed'* and 'Magnified.'f "The decline 
of the influence of the family, of the church, of the workshop, 
and of the major Nationalizing Traditions has meant the in- 
crease of the domain of the school. And as the school extends 
the frontier of education, thereby enlarging its service to the 
common good, it will of necessity turn its attention inward 
and utilize the external good for its internal improvement."! 
It is in this reciprocal influence of the school and the community 
that rest the hopes of Democracy. In the community we have 

* Pearson — The Vitalized School, 
t Ward, E. J.— The Social Center. 
t Ward, E. J. op. cit. 



140 School Adjustment 

studied here, there is peculiar force to the need for a common 
understanding, a unity of purpose, and a sympathetic coopera- 
tion in working toward a common goal. The school must 
enter deeply into the lives of the people as well as into the 
lives of the children in order to become the great democratic 
socializing agency. 

Conclusion 

To effect the many improvements made possible by the 
adjustment of the school to the needs of its community re- 
quires then a complete reorganization, an increased budget of 
expenditures, a new and different type of plant, a revised, 
enriched and diversified program, a differentiated corps of 
teachers fully compensated for their special efficiencies, a changed 
spirit in instruction and a broader conception of service. All 
these are necessary in order that the school may come into its 
own as the prime exemplar of democratic institutions within 
the community, and that the education it affords may have 
telling effect on present social life through the cooperative 
realization of the highest ideals. 



Bibliography 141 



BIBLIOGRAPHY 

U. S. Census RepOTts, 1880 to 1910. 

U. S. Census Statistical Abstract, 1910, Pennsylvania Supplement. 

U. S. Census, 1910, Occupations. 

U. S. Census Bureau, 1918, the Negro Population in U. S. 1790, 1915. 

U. S. Census Bureau, 1918, Financial Statistics of Cities. 

U. S. Bureau of Education — Bulletin 1916, No. 38 — Negro Education. 

Board of Education, Philadelphia, Report 1918. 

Bureau of Compulsory Education, Philadelphia, Reports 1915-1919. 

Boas, F. The Mind of Primitive Man. 

Galton, F. Hereditary Genius. 

Hall, G. S. The Negro in Africa and America. Ped. Sem. ('12), page 350. 

LeBon, G. The Psychology of Peoples. 

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Miller, K. Race Adjustment. 

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Noble, S. G. Forty Years of the PubUc Schools in Mississippi. 

Smith, H. L. A Survey of a Public School System. 

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School Surveys and Reports: 

Portland, Newton, Salt Lake City, EvansviUe, Springfield, New Orleans, 
Memphis, Solvay, Cleveland, Gary, New York City, Boston. 



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